Initially settled in 1848, Drytown is said to be the oldest town in Amador County. The creeks here ran dry in the summer, which is the origin of the name Drytown. Around 400 people lived in the settlement during the winter of 1849.
I grew up as a young lad on a small ranch about three miles above Fiddletown, circa 1960's. Part of my daily bus ride to high school in Sutter Creek went down hwy 49 through Drytown. I was most fortunate to attend more than one performance here--
You probably boarded the school bus in Fiddletown at Zero Dark Thirty to make it to high school on time. That's how it was for the kids in Camptonville, too.
Then the teachers said "Aw, poor kids. Let's start school an hour later, so the kids don't have to drag their asses out of bed like their parents do". What a crock.
Funny you should mention. I don't recall the exact times now, but it was light when I got up in the morning. We lived about a mile off Tyler Road, so had to make that hike each day. In dry weather, I rode my old tank of a Schwinn with a two-speed brake. Grade was mildly uphill outbound. I would stash my bike in the bushes off the road.
The school bus ran up and then back down Tyler Road. It went to Plymouth (where I went to grade school) where we transferred to a different bus for the ride to Sutter Creek. Coming home was the reverse.
My folks had long since divorced, so it was just my mother and I on the ranch. I was on my own most mornings---get dressed, slam down some cold cereal, and head out. Missed the bus a few times, caught hell for that. One time she kept me home. She sent note with me the next day explaining she had kept me home and "worked me hard" as punishment. Never told her that I thought it was great. Beat the hell out of being bored in a classroom.
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'Downtown' Drytown didn't look any different in 2000 than it did in 1860. I can't say what it looks like today.
ReplyDeleteIt hadn't changed much last time I passed through back around 2010.
DeleteI grew up as a young lad on a small ranch about three miles above Fiddletown, circa 1960's. Part of my daily bus ride to high school in Sutter Creek went down hwy 49 through Drytown. I was most fortunate to attend more than one performance here--
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ledger.news/roots/the-claypipers-theater-in-drytown/article_79a9bbe2-ba55-11eb-a795-7b7df8baeb2e.html
You probably boarded the school bus in Fiddletown at Zero Dark Thirty to make it to high school on time. That's how it was for the kids in Camptonville, too.
DeleteThen the teachers said "Aw, poor kids. Let's start school an hour later, so the kids don't have to drag their asses out of bed like their parents do". What a crock.
Funny you should mention. I don't recall the exact times now, but it was light when I got up in the morning. We lived about a mile off Tyler Road, so had to make that hike each day. In dry weather, I rode my old tank of a Schwinn with a two-speed brake. Grade was mildly uphill outbound. I would stash my bike in the bushes off the road.
DeleteThe school bus ran up and then back down Tyler Road. It went to Plymouth (where I went to grade school) where we transferred to a different bus for the ride to Sutter Creek. Coming home was the reverse.
My folks had long since divorced, so it was just my mother and I on the ranch. I was on my own most mornings---get dressed, slam down some cold cereal, and head out. Missed the bus a few times, caught hell for that. One time she kept me home. She sent note with me the next day explaining she had kept me home and "worked me hard" as punishment. Never told her that I thought it was great. Beat the hell out of being bored in a classroom.
Not going to lie, I saw Drytoiwn and thought why ?
ReplyDeleteJD
Because when you have 26 saloons you don't need water.
DeleteThat's true and people probably didn't drink much water back then.
DeleteJD
Every mining town I ever researched had an overabundance of saloons. Interestingly, a lot of them had at least one brewery.
Delete