County of Tuolumne

There is no museum that doesn’t turn my head. I love history. Love old things (yeah, I wasn’t going to bring up Mr. B, but some things I simply can’t resist). Love old tales. Spend my time wondering what I did in my past lives. I think I must have been an Indian hunter/​warrior, I was always good with a bow and arrow and paddling my canoe. Really.
Sonora was a small but booming town that cropped up around the same time as the Gold Rush, in 1848. The original settlers were Mexican miners from Sonora Mexico; the East Coasters, European immigrants and Chinese followed later. It was a wild town but eventually evolved into a logging community after the gold mining opportunities dried up. The downtown is still a well preserved, charming memorial to a rich, late 1800’s boom town economy with narrow streets, beautiful Victorian homes and commercial buildings.
So, hiding on one of the side streets in old Sonora is this multi-​purpose building built in 1866 that was originally the home of the county sheriff and his family. It also housed the jail. Can you imagine living there, raising your kids, with the jail facilities in the back of the same building?
Story goes, this building was erected after a disgruntled prisoner decided to start a fire in his cell of the «old jail» so they would have to let him out. What he didn’t quite realize was the heat from the fire made it impossible for anyone to open the solid iron door to his cell. I liken it to the Man of La Mancha lyrics, ««Whether the stone hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the stone, it’s going to be bad for the pitcher». Nope, this most certainly was *not* his best day ever!
Now, the wooden house interior has been radically changed. It is now one large room that displays interesting artifacts and many old photographs. While small and humble, it nonetheless keeps you entertained. And it is manned by some eager to please docents. The back half is where you can visit the jail, a solid brick walled building with heavy iron doors, a total of 10 individual cells. Today, each of the cells are different time capsules featuring artifacts from early Sonoran life.
For those curious, this property also houses the Tuolumne County Genealogical Society Library.

This is a museum that has awesome displays from the gold rush years! It’s an old sheriff’s house that also served as the Sonora jail. It has an incredible gun collection from the mid-​1850s, some actual gold nuggets, displays of some of the ‘bad guys’ from the wild west and a whole lot more.
The volunteers who work here are more than willing to walk you through the museum and are a wealth of knowledge.
When you’re done with panning for gold with the kiddies, take them here. Should be a mandatory stop for anyone who wants to learn about gold rush era.