Forbidden Universe
Paranormal => The Paranormal & Ghost Society => Topic started by: AngelOfThyCosmos on February 12, 2018, 08:41:42 PM
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Our Investigation In Grass Valley California On 1/20/18 Empire & St Patrick's Cemetery, Church & St Mary's Convent
The last time I worked with the Grass Valley area was when we took a weekend road trip up to Nevada City visiting a haunted hotel, hospital and a few other historical sites. I love this region of California its up in the foothills with allot of history, trees and their is a true sense of coziness here. As a paranormal investigator I get to explore some of the most beautiful parts of the country and I love what I do. Nobody pays me to do this as working with the dearly departed is something I enjoy and want to do.
I am not sure what it is but these past few months I been playing cat and mouse with the weather. Every time I spend money on food, lodging, gas, supplies etc we get major snowstorms that hit the mountains. Its a hard call to make because I am not one to cancel that hardly ever will happen. But the drive up to Grass Valley was a rough ride. Allot of hair pin turns on iced over cliffs, vehicles speeding on the narrow road from the other direction and there was snow on the roads most of my journey with ice just frozen under it. So you do have to be careful I consider myself a great driver this is why I drive this is why most people should not be driving safety is everything especially on the road.
I had big plans for my day up in Grass Valley which would included the Empire Mine Site, Bourn Manor, St. Patrick's Church and Cemetery and of course the St. Mary's Convent and Orphanage. Well today its an academy but back in the day it was one of the oldest orphanages and convents on the west coast. Most sites I visit are historically significant. I am a history buff what can I say and when places like this make our website it is because of the history so others can enjoy it also.
These are sites that had a long time visit coming from me. Have you ever had your eyes on a place for years and thought oh man I want to go to that place. Well for me this meant allot because I have eyed the Empire Mine for nearly six years thinking about how great it would be to explore this place. What folks do not understand is that its not just a mine its a complex of mills, structures, homes and other historical sites of interest. It would be a fun day planned also one that would include eating at the Original Mel's Diner and of course playing games at Boomtown Fun Center. You cant go wrong with that after a hard days of exploring!
I was also excited because I bought a new piece of paranormal equipment which measures magnetism and radiology in the air. Time to time I like to buy new gadgets I am not huge on bringing a bunch of tools on an investigation but I carry some. I try to rely on photographs and EVP most of all sometimes the ghost perform other times they do not. But the thought of ghost roaming the halls of the manor or a convent or even hundreds of miles of mining tunnels seems like a good prospect to me. Our first location we would visit was the Empire Mine early in the morning.
Empire Mine & Mill
(Bourn Manor)
The entire mining complex is surrounded by stone walls all the way around it in a dense forest. Its a gorgeous area allot of English architecture on the grounds. When rock was taken out of the mines it could be used to build walls and other structures which can be found on this 850 acre site. You really cannot see to much unless you enter the mine complex. But near the entrance are giant wood gates, a few stone buildings and of course the museum.
The one thing I love about this part of California is that the winters are warmer so flowers technically still grow and everything is still very green especially in the walls of the empire mine where the landscaping is kept up. They have a mining museum here which is totally worth checking out that has old mining helmets, headlamps, tools, minerals and that sort of thing worth at least checking out. I guess the museum use to be the cottages auto shop and carriage house during the mines peak.
Back in the day the owners of the mine and its most well renowned staff had access to a secret room which boasted a scale model of the entire mines below the surface workings all 367 miles of them. Yes you heard it right there was nearly 400 miles underground of tunnels at one time here the mine was massive perhaps even a marvel. The secret room back in the day had blacked out windows nobody even knew it existed. But today the scale model can be seen with depth charts, tunnels, shafts etc which gives you a idea of how massive this place was.
Unlike most mines about 26 men died at this mine which really is a small number compared to other mines in the region. The Empire may have been the richest and most successful gold mine in California let alone the country. Today most of the tunnels are filled with water or collapsed. But I have no doubt being a paranormal investigator that those miner ghost still haunt them. I mean the mine today is closed up of course the first level is about the only area that is not collapsed or flooded. Its definitely worth seeing the model especially when you see the mine had tunnels thousands of feet down id have to say that would be quite creepy working that deep below the earths surface.
When you go out into the main yard you enter a huge open area to the left are a bunch of stone buildings. Those buildings including administration, assay office, owners and mine manager offices etc. This was one of my favorite areas because everything is preserved all the way to the old pair of glasses and newspapers sitting on the desk. There are also old typewriters, folders in relation to the mine, old telephones and even a safe where gold bars were kept. My son and I managed to pop out a series of old wood boards which had a blocked off secret passage near the safe I thought that was pretty awesome.
The area was full of trees but back in the day I seen where there was hardly none this is because allot of the wood was cut down for warmth and construction. Therefore a century ago all the trees that are growing around the mining grounds were planted here so there are all sorts of species of plant and tree life here. Which provide great shade on a warmer day to picnic or just ponder. The mine yard however has the offices, hoist house, blacksmith, machine shop, compressor building, mine exhibits, warehouse and even a welding shop.
The offices in the stone buildings include the mine managers office and even the engineering office which had a massive drafting table so that new tunnels could be designed. The mine managers office had a bookshelf, safe and all the offices had the antique wooden desk. I sort of felt like I walked back in time a century ago when times were simpler ya know? There was no laptops or cell phones or fancy copying machines. It was all old school here and even the upstairs offices had a bathroom with a claw tub so you could take a bath here.
The mine yard next to it is rather impressive all sorts of generators, ore carts actually a train of them on two sets of tracks, steam operated machinery and rusty equipment which you could pull the levers on. I am into the rusty stuff you guys know that so I probably spend more time looking at machinery then anything else. Believe it or not despite how old allot of this machinery is back in the day this was state of the art and was used widely across the west in mining operations like with the Empire.
In one of the stone buildings my son found a second hatch it had an iron plate on it we could not pry it up but he looked down the hole and told me there was tunnels under where we stood. The owner probably had a tunnel system he took from his office to his estate nearby or this was a back way into the mines to watch over employees and supervise them. Its hard to know because almost all the tunnels have been sealed at the Empire and I have no information about such hidden hatches we found on our exploration.
I also had went down a series of stairs which allows you to see down into the mines main shaft which goes down at a steep angle till you can no longer see into the darkness. The carts traveled at 1,200' a minute and miners 600' per minute it must had been one hell of a ride. The deepest shaft in the mine was over 5,000' in depth so this was a no joke type of mine taller then even the world trade centers underground. I was told that only 20 percent of the millions of ounces of gold mined here was retried so in simple terms there are millions of more ounces of gold in these tunnels but the mine is closed and abandoned. No less I stood at the shaft as the tracks continued to disappear into the darkness looking down into it and its just a pit to hell or at least it appears that way.
I was also able to explore a little not much the Hoist House I also sparked a bowl back here there is a nice hidden alley with a steam tank and a giant metal head frame. The hoist house had big machinery where rock could be hoisted out of here or men could be lowered down. That also included supplies such as food and water if necessary. Right next door to it is the compressor house which pumped air and provided ventilation for the miners. As most of you know the deeper you go the less oxygen there was to breath .Compressors also operated machinery and some of the machinery in here was fairly massive. This is the first compressor house I have ever came across out west quite intriguing.
I also got to see the refinery room where mercury was recycled and the gold nuggets were made into 89 pound gold bars then shipped off to San Francisco where the banks were located. Its really amazing how gold was processed back in the day but it also was a bit dangerous working with mercury. You would use it to process the gold then melt down the nuggets which made there way to the safe and eventually someone like Wells Fargo then would transport them to the big city.
There is a blacksmith shop to I love this place they had three blacksmiths working while I was there hammering on the anvil. This is not the kind of thing you would get to see anywhere since blacksmithing is really no longer a common practice. They use to hammer pump covers, hinges and other small iron items needed around the mine site. I got to see the liquid metal being poured out and red hot coals. Its really impressive and the blacksmiths working here will show you how its done.
There is also a cyanide mill its off limits, gated with a huge lock. I thought about hopping the fence and taking the trail back there figured id get pictures but its to out in the open. Not sure why they have it blocked off maybe there are hazards back here hard to tell. The cyanide is long gone but climbing around old cyanide mills are dangers often with allot of rusty sharp metal, rebar etc. But along the road leading to the Cyanide Mill are remnants of a large stamp mill to the left of it which today is merely a skeleton. This mill was massive I seen old historic photos it had 80 stamps that crushed the ore then used mercury to process the gold from the crushed ore.
Not to far from the stamp mill ruins is an actual series of stamps with a nice bench under a tree you can relax at. I see stamps at many ghost towns nothing new but it was the stamps that crushed the ore here and they managed to spare some which are pretty large compared to other stamps I have seen on my journeys. From that point on you can move on to the Starr Foundation, Bourn Cottage/Manor, Gardens and Caretakers House. Although there are at least 8 miles of trails in the park which can take you out to remnants of the Pennsylvania, Orleans, WYOD, Prescott, Daisy Hill, Conlon, Betsy and Prescott Hill Mines. Although so very little remains but its a pretty forest and well I simply focused my first trip here on mainly the Empire.
My family and I first hiked out to the old clubhouse which was built by the mine owner so that he could entertain his wealthy friends visiting. Such a clubhouse would have tennis courts, pool tables, bar, guest rooms, pool etc etc. I was lucky enough to be let in the clubhouse to take a couple photos for the site. The main room has shiny wood floors a massive stone fireplace and there are mounts on the walls of trophy animals. The clubhouse was really nice Bourn Jr's wife was probably okay with it because he was an outdoors man so this was kind of like his cabin in the woods and a place to entertain his friends boasting big elaborate parties.
Across from the Clubhouse was Bourn's Cottage nothing was spared and it was called a cottage but in reality this was a English Manor or estate almost 5 thousand square feet in size. But see Bourn had a 10000 square foot mansion near San Fran so to him something half that size was a cottage. The cottage was built out of the very stone brought up from the mines it is dark inside because the windows are so small and was built by Willis Polk in 1897 who was an architect.
I did not get to the explore the upstairs you have to have two caretakers attend with you or its offlimits grrrr. But what I can tell you is the main floors holds the den with a beautiful fireplace, elegant dining room, reading room with books later used as a bedroom by Bourn and a service room. Its so elegant inside I mean allot of antiques all the way from the furnishings to the carpeting, piano and light fixtures. Upstairs supposedly are four bedrooms and two baths. The servants rooms and bathroom were llocated directly above the kitchen.
Their is allot of English architecture on the grounds you sort of feel like your in England. Then again most of the miners that came here to perform hard rock mining were Cornish. Therefore the stone buildings are also Cornish. If you stood on the grounds of the manor you would not know the difference if this was American or England. The miners that came here brought with them hard rock mining methodology also the Cornish pump to drain the mines of water at the 1,200' level without them the Empire would have ceased to exist early on in its time.
Bourne Jr lived in this manor he wanted to call this his cabin in the woods but really his wife had other ideas for the manor which is why he built his giant clubhouse or as I call it man cave lol. The manor was very lavish with two massive fountains on the grounds in front of it, surrounded by trees and green grass growing everywhere. The grass is so green because they recycle the water from the flooded mine tunnels.
Also there are gardens below the manor thousands of roses were planted here and today they still bloom. Unfortunately with it being winter I did not get to see all the roses that they had planted here. Some of those rose bushes are a century old. But if you take the steps behind the manor there is a stone archway and behind that are just aisles of hedges and rose bushes that are tiered. At the bottom of the tiers is a reflection pool. There are bird baths, vines and ivy growing everywhere as you can see the manor off in the distance its really sweet.
There is also on the grounds a Gardeners House and Greenhouse. The Bourns were heavily into flowers and trees therefore they nearly had the Gardner plant 1000 vintage Roses bushes all cultivated in the greenhouse which today is abandoned and in fairly poor shape. I guess a Chinese family lived on the grounds in this house so there job was to tend to the landscaping and gardens. It had to be a huge task think about it all the trees growing here and flowers just wow.
If you walk down the grand stairwell at the front of the mansion you can also see a fountain built into a wall where the water pours out this lions mouth. I think its a lion it appears to have a cat like face but is eroded. All the pools and foundations were not operating when I attended some had water in them. But I believe that in the winter it gets shut down in case the pipes freeze. Even though Grass Valley gets milder winter weather some nights it drops down to freezing here afterall your still in the sierra foothills.
The manor would be my dream home I always wanted to live in a giant stone mansion with a huge stone fireplace. With old wooden staircases and dim lighting. You cant help feeling a presence in the home I mean you have to understand the family is long gone so are the servants, maids, gardners etc who all lived on these grounds and eventually passed away. Who knows what kind of ghosts haunt its halls or these grounds. On a full moon looming over the manor at night this place must be AMAZING!
Before I left I did make one last pit stop its the Star Home Site known as the Ophir Cottage. This was George Starr's home which fire destroyed in 1935. I seen photos of this mansion as well it was beautiful just like Bourn's estate. I was told the Ophir Cottage was about 5,000 square feet in size. Sadly today all that is left is the foundation of the basement. You can clearly see the basement of the home was very large in fact it had what appeared to be some small room that looked like a vault and the walls were over 8' high. Hard to believe its all gone it actually sat just a few minute walk from The Bourn family manor.
I really love the Empire Mine despite it being winter I photographed flowers, ghost hunted the grounds and inside many of the buildings. I know there is more to see here there are hiking trails which lead to other mine sites on the grounds. I seen as much as I could see and did as much as I could considering we spent most of our day here. I would like to see more the caretaker was a bit of a dick to me though at the Clubhouse. He tried to rush my son when he was taking a photo of me standing next to the grand fireplace. People should not be rude to others like that I am trying to put this place on site and bring it visitors along with future funding to keep it preserved. Its guys like me that these places owe a thanks to because without guys like me preservation of the sites including donations would not be possible.
The caretaker however showed me a vine that has been growing for over a century. When the fire at the Starr home transpired the ivy latched onto a tree and has been growing over a 100' since. There is allot of little tid bits of history so you have to just get out and explore yourself. I was pretty amazed by this place and we had a nice picnic after the investigation with pizza, fruit snacks, hard boiled eggs, Pepsi, candy, pastry etc it was good and I was just getting fueled on up before we headed on over to St. Patrick's Cemetery and St. Mary's Academy for our last adventure of the day. I will be excited to put Empire on our website this is a fine place very well preserved like stepping back in time absolutely gorgeous some would not even know that this was one of the riches gold mines in the world. So much history back in here they have done a great job preserving the past I was highly impressed!
St Patrick's Cemetery, Church and St. Mary's Academy
(Orphanage & Convent)
Before I headed back from home over the high sierras I wanted to do another project which I feel deserves a spot on our website. That being St. Patrick's Irish Catholic Historic Cemetery and across the street St. Mary's Academy which use to be the old convent and orphanage formed by St. Patrick's Church. The Cemetery, Church and Academy are all adjacent to one another and really all have history in relevance to one another.
I parked at the cemetery it has two entrances sits on a hill with giant trees. This is an Irish Catholic Cemetery very old mid 1800's. From the fence I could see a few hundred graves problem was every single grave was vandalized almost. Some were in pieces others were pushed over and some of the stones appeared to be missing. Wrought iron enclosures were missing half there fencing and it was like a scene out of a horror movie.
I started to enter when I seen a new sign posted that stated you must get permission from St. Patrick's Church and that if you enter you are subjected to arrest under some city penal code. I have never heard of a cemetery in the middle of a town like this banning folks from entering. Afterall there was no locks, gates and resides in a residential neighborhood surrounded by houses on two sides while across the street was the convent and in the middle of the two is the church.
Allot of the burials here are men who either worked in the mines or met an horrible end. Grass Valley was somewhat lawless and the Irish were treated horribly. As a matter in fact the cemetery opened in 1851 and by 1906 no more burials were occurring here. The trees are so overgrown that the trunks have toppled stones if that is not worst many of them are crumbling which I assume is why they do not want anyone visiting here. But for me I have to visit and do a story on this place its the only way to get the big wigs moving on it to restore, secure and preserve a cemetery such as this.
Surprisingly though the grass is very green and it was mowed when I walked around the perimeter of the cemetery. I did not go in till later on after I finished off other projects such as the convent and glad I did because a cop drove by it slowly looking. Therefore if they would have seen me in there with my black nails I am sure they would have given me a problem despite that I drove up here to do credible historic research.
I walked down the street to St. Patrick's Church this is a very old congregation. It started off with it being just a chapel made out of wood. Father Dalton became the first resident pastor building a brick church in its place or rather on two parcels of land across the road from the cemetery in the mid 1800's. As a matter in fact by 1859 he was using the church as a school for the local kids. This really was an Irish neighborhood allot of big homes, creepy cemetery in the middle and a beautiful church.
The brick church had really no foundation so it begin to collect mold, was very damp and had allot of damage. They demolished the entire church and built a newer version of it in 1950 which is the church that stands today. I made sure I took some photos of the church there is a rectory which looks like a house that is attached but nobody was around. I was hoping to ask the father if I could walk around the cemetery afterall I tried to do the right thing. But nobody was around parking lot and everything was simply vacant and the church locked up. Back thirty years ago you could walk into any church nowadays most churches are locked down.
I walked on over to Mount St. Mary's Academy founded in 1859 by Father Dalton as a matter in fact the original wooden chapel had been turned into a school meanwhile the new Catholic Church stood across the street. It has been a Catholic school for 150 years and one of the oldest in the west. While today the brick building is newer the massive three story white building was the original chapel which had a multitude of uses. This included it being used as an orphanage and convent that was utilized by the Sisters Of Mercy in Ireland when they came to help Dalton with the school such as teaching the children.
The problem was is that orphans were on a rise sadly many of the miners died in the mines. Some were murder victims then you had your prostitutes who gave birth and simply did not have the means to take care of that child. As the school had grown so did the number of orphans. The white massive wooden structure across from today's museum still has the original chapel attached to it with long green and red stained glass windows. Also a giant cross above the chapels steeple.
In the front of the old chapel and orphanage is a giant brick wall with an iron gate. This is known as the St. Joseph's Rose Gardens beyond the gate I was only able to see a little and during they week they do open them to the public. The garden is a bit creepy vines, overgrown brush, weeds, giant trees etc its not exactly well maintained but I did see a statue of Joseph holding Jesus and one of Mary on the grounds. The statues are very beautiful and well id love to see more unfortunately I could only see a little from the wrought iron and street on the back side.
The orphanage housed homeless kids from around 1866 till 1932 here. It also was a convent for the Sisters Of Mercy up until 1966. I did my own research and pulled up some old black and white pictures of the nuns. I seen them on horseback and with their students. Even dozens of them walking the grounds of the old convent building. The orphanage, chapel and convent all look the same but the church has changed. The brick church had a beautiful tall steeple that held a massive bell 2000 pounds referred to as Joseph. The newer church just appears to be smaller and has allot less stain glass.
Today most of the old Orphanage and Convent is abandoned. A thrift store downstairs was open people were shopping. While on the second floor is the Grass Valley Museum which said they are closed for the winter and wont open till spring. I was disappointed if I had gotten to see the museum then I would have gotten to see more of the inside of this creepy place. It really is creepy big tall glass windows, three stories, all white with overgrown gardens surrounding it and over the years not just nuns passed away here but quite a few children from epidemics.
I went through these doors which took me to an area with pews perhaps its for the children to stay out of the cold during recess or something. But once you go through another door your on the back side of the chapel and you can see more of its stained glass windows up close from the outside. I also took a stairwell to the third floor which at the top they had it blocked off with a trellis, wood and wiring. There are a few doors that are locked who knows they could have been old classrooms, nuns sleeping quarters or where the orphans slept.
I walked down to the first story through this stone archway then down some stone steps which led me down this narrow aisle that led to the convents underground tunnels. There was a giant wood door it was locked we tried to open it to get photos. There was another wood door also locked both doors go into the basement. In the hill to our left was this massive stone room with wrought iron bars. The gate was locked not even sure what this was used for but it gave me the creeps. A stone room with a iron gate on it underground. What would this have been used for perhaps to store bodies? maybe it was cold storage for food?
The stonework was amazing as we went down this narrow corridor trying to find access into the tunnels. The place is really creepy its hard to explain but this is as historical of a location as it probably is haunted no doubt. The convent looks more like a giant creepy old mansion when you first walk around it. The entire front of it can be accessed when the gardens are open but Jarrod, Tammy and I made it on the back side where there is no wall because someone left the door unlocked. So there is a small garden behind the old convent with the back side of the chapel then stairs leading below ground where there are tunnels and basement entrances below this place so it kind of leaves things to the imagination of what might be hiding in the dark here below this massive building.
Its possible I can right the father and see if he can give me access to it its something ill have to think on. Most of the old convent and orphanage is no longer used today. Allot of doors are locked up tight certain areas are blocked off but id love to see the original chapel sometime. During the day this place is creepy I do not care what anyone says I chose this place for a good reason because the church, old orphanage, academy and graveyard are all part of the same place so this was somewhat a big undertaking of a project for me. I can imagine if I had access inside you could spend a few hours exploring this place.
I really want to see the St. Joseph's Cultural Center to allot of artifacts and history when they are open. Its a wonderful area to roam around at. I did the best I could as far as an exploration and investigation. Before I left I just hung out at the wrought iron gates when some dude approached me asking me if I wanted to buy burned music CDs. I was just thinking to myself I burned six CDs for this road trip already why at the time would I want more? While there are some nice big homes in this neighborhood there obviously is some crime just look at how bad of shape the cemetery is. So if you decide you want to see one of the oldest orphanages in the west know that the area is not in the best part of town.
When this church was built it led to a series of other denominations because the Irish despite the segregation and how they were treated built this complex of buildings. Many of those denominations also had there own cemetery just like St. Patrick's. But this is one of the oldest Irish Cemeteries in the county and it served the miners and there families of the northern mines.
Its very limited to what you can see like I said there are walls, gates, doors etc. But I did have access to the courtyard and the back side believe you and me is allot more creepy. I felt like I was watched here no less the Sisters Of Mercy have a long history which dates back to hundreds of years ago in Ireland thus this was there convent for nearly a century so it probably is haunted. If it is not id be really surprised and the moss along with vines just adds to that eeriness which can be found everywhere along the stone passage we explored.
Before we left I gave in and went into the cemetery. I wanted to spend a hour inside but I only could give it ten minutes because I did not feel like spending a night in the Grass Valley jail lol. But its a sad place monuments are crumbling, broke, graves are missing, fences are down and its heavily neglected minus that the landscaping is kept up here. They have this stone slab it has to be 10' and it looks like someone took a sledge hammer to it.
The cemetery has small hills so when you stand at the bottom and look up you can see the old St Mary's Convent Chapel and it kind of overshadows the graveyard. Some of the windows also look down into the graveyard. Can you imagine being an orphan here and the view from your room is the graveyard where you might end up being buried because of yellow fever or small pox? Spanish flu? In a sense as a kid this must had been very scary losing your parents then your life only to look down across the street onto the cemetery.
Many stones were leaning on trees or on top of one another some were broke in half. No less this is a gorgeous cemetery it just needs to be gated, restored and vandalism needs to be put to an end. I visited quite a few grave sites before I made my exit as a local was getting nosy with me walking around. I mean I get it people destroyed this place but that ruins it for guys like me doing research. I can tell you that I had gotten some high readings in the cemetery on my new radiological meter. I cant say its ghost there are power lines that run down the street. I have not used it enough to see what distance it measures power lines. But I can say I was in the back of the cemetery far away when it went off in the danger zone.
Not every grave is vandalized their are a few untouched by mans ill will and some nice old wrought iron enclosures. But this cemetery needs work and sadly because of the way people have treated it they have banned folks from entering its gates. In the front of the cemetery is a giant wood sign that states that the site of the first catholic church stood here near the front entrance. Which was the first of its kind in Grass Valley and reverend Shanahan was its first pasture until Father Dalton came along to improve the church and start the academy across the street.
So the history here is very amazing you have a creepy convent and cemetery with the new church in between the tow. I would love to see more and work with this place. More or less it was just a side project I wanted to do so that I could get this historical location on our website perhaps to spark some preservation efforts of the cemetery. Really this was one of the first orphanages, convents and Catholic academies west of the Mississippi. It should get more attention then what it does and not allot of people even knew that which is why its such a fascinating place to explore and even investigate.
After ducking down and hiding in the cemetery with my family laughing at me because they know I risk being arrested. They do not take part in some of my activities and I am glad I do them alone because people tend to whine, complain and bitch about everything. I do my best work ALONE and this is for Christopher Misstopher who think I need him to explore when I been doing this half my life. This was an intriguing place especially the hidden stone room amazing stuff for sure.
The ride was a long one through the snowy beautiful sierras and with the sun starting to fall the roads were not looking to well because the melted snow tends to turn back to ice. But I do what I do best which is smoke some bud, play some music and just focus on getting to where I have to get. I had a nice relaxing ride with gourmet gummy bears and some other really tasty treats. Eventually I would arrive in Verdi where we would go to Mel's Diner.
I love dining here the food is good and the waitresses are cute. I love cute gals believe me I am a total man and after a hard day of exploring its nice to see a hottie with some good food. I ordered me a jalapeno Philly smothered in cheese with a side of mashed potatoes. I also had a nice side of Buffalo chicken wings they were crispy and so good. Throw in some hot coffee and I was really happy the way our adventures for the day turned out. These are solid historical locations good for urban exploring, photography, nature, ghosts or whatever. We had some good laughs during dinner and those memories made it all the more worthwhile.
Next to Mel's Diner is also Boomtown Fun Center which has miniature golf, rides, a carousal, arcade games etc. We won nearly 500 tickets playing ski ball and other fun games. We also played air hockey and Mario Kart. It really was a blast trying to beat my son and Tammy. We also won second place in deal or no deal and played on a giant piano. They have allot of cool games at the fun center we spent an hour playing kind of lost track of time. We used our tickets to get a spinner, alien key chain and candy. Its all good fun really.
I purposely bust my ass on my explorations so that I can look forward to the good time that comes after. I was really tired from my outing you have to think here I drive 300 miles, explore the massive Empire Mine Park and then head of to a hilly cemetery and a creepy convent which by the way I slipped on ice at. Yeah it was pretty icy at St Mary's and here I am playing games at night in some arcade throwing basketballs and pounding an air hockey puck lol. Man when I got home I slept like a baby I did not even want to budge.
All in all it was a great time allot of people think that being out west all you do is explore ghost towns. But there are other awesome things in the wild west such as forts, tunnels, cemeteries, orphanages, mansions and so much more which all is connected to the history dating back to when the frontier was born and pioneers came here to build lives. If it were not for those pioneers the west would have never existed. Grass Valley was born due to miners and that led to all the history we explored. One being one of the most successful, deepest and large gold mines in the country. While the other was one of the first theological sites of its kind here out west.
Its hard to know what kind of ghostly tales come out of these places since both are locations where men, women and children passed away. Its hard to know what other secrets they harbor and what else remains to be seen. I hope one day to return to both locations and see more because I know there is more. These were some amazing sites to explore and cant wait to share more content on them in the future with our members.
Peace,
Lord Rick
PGS Founder