An 1850s California Christmas

by Noella Noelophile®

(Photo courtesy of Columbia State Historic Park, and used with permission.)

You walk through a time when lamps were lit with kerosene.   Around you are townspeople experiencing Christmas season, approximately 1850.  The era: the California gold rush.

And what you’re seeing, is just one of the ways Columbia celebrates Christmas, with their “Lamplight Tours”.

(Photo courtesy of Columbia State Historic Park,and used with permission.)

Led by docents in Columbia State Historic Park, the popular annual “Lamplight Tours” are Columbia’s original Christmastime walking plays.   But they’re just the beginning of the celebration.

Here, Columbia State Historic Park Interpreter Kelly Leage offers a closer look at the festivities.

Columbia State Historic Park is a National Historic Landmark District, in which Columbia’s historic main street has been preserved as an actual working Gold Rush-era town.

Located near Sonora, Columbia State Historic Park hosts year-round events which honor its heritage.

(Photo courtesy of Columbia State Historic Park, and used with permission.)

For Christmas season, they host a yearly Equestrian Parade,  Las Posadas procession and “A Miner’s Christmas”.  Admission to the park, in which Columbia’s historic district is located, is free, as is parking.

(Lamplight Tours have a marginal fee, while “A Miner’s Christmas” and the parade are free events.)

Here’s the link to book Columbia State Historic Park’s “Lamplight Tours”, happening the evenings of Friday, December 6 and Saturday, December 7th.  As of December 1, they still have some availability!

Meanwhile, “Las Posadas” and the Equestrian Parade both happen on Sunday, December 8th, and “A Miner’s Christmas” the weekends of December 14th and 21st.  Both admission to Columbia State Historic Park and parking are free.  Here’s a link to their map and more information.