{"nrhp_refnum":"78000655","name":"Fiddletown","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Off CA 49","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fiddletown","county":"Amador County","state":"CA","lat":38.50502360500005,"lon":-120.76177404564962,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-06-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic gold rush town district of about 100 acres in the Sierra Nevada foothills along Dry Creek, six miles northeast of Plymouth in Amador County, California. Settlers from Missouri founded it in 1849, and it includes a Chinese settlement section.","why_significant":"The district retains many buildings from the 1850s gold rush, including brick, adobe, rammed-earth and tuff structures. Its Chinese settlement, especially the Chew Kee Store with its intact herb shop and artifacts, is described as a rare record of early Chinese-American life. The town kept its rural mid-to-late 19th century feeling despite some modern intrusions.","narrative":"Fiddletown is a former gold rush town in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Amador County, six miles northeast of Plymouth. Settlers from Missouri founded it in 1849, and by 1853 about 100 homes and businesses lined Main and Jibboom Streets on either side of Dry Creek. It served as a trading center for nearby placer mining camps and had a steam sawmill and local brickmaking. Surviving buildings include brick stores with iron doors, an 1870 blacksmith and wagon shop of hand-hewn tuff blocks, a Gothic Revival house, a Classic Revival cottage, an 1860 schoolhouse and an 1856 cemetery. West of town, a Chinese settlement left adobe, rock and rammed-earth buildings. The Chew Kee Store still holds its original herb shop contents and artifacts, regarded as an exceptional record of Chinese-American culture. Some twentieth-century buildings intrude, but the town keeps the feel of a quiet nineteenth-century village.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gold Rush era vernacular, with Classic Revival and Gothic Revival buildings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Altered but in fair condition and largely occupied; the Cooper House was partly burned in 1975, with restoration planned. The Chew Kee Store is open some weekends as a museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.746548-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000655.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000655/ead250a8f6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000655/ead250a8f6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Vince","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fiddletown,_California.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Vince</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fiddletown,_California.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858393","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddletown,_California","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3476022"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/amador-county/fiddletown-78000655/"}