Weaverville (Chimariko: ) is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Trinity County, California, United States. Its population is 3,667 as of the 2020 census, up from 3,600 from the 2010 census.
History
Founded in 1850, Weaverville is a historic California Gold Rush town. Located at the foot of the current Trinity Alps Wilderness Area, Weaverville was once home to approximately 2,000 Chinese gold miners and had its own Chinatown. Many of these miners left once the gold rush ended, and the majority of the Chinatown burned down in a 1911 fire. Historical monuments and architecture throughout the town keep this history alive. The Joss House is California's oldest active Chinese temple, housing Chinese artifacts from the 19th century, and is Weaverville's oldest building, built in 1852.
A self-guided walking tour of historic downtown buildings (some said to be haunted) is the best way to experience the ambiance and quaint shops and businesses.
Logging and tourism were the economic mainstays of Weaverville for many years. Weaverville is now more known for its robust trail system and quaint historic downtown. The Trinity Alps Basin Trails system starts in Weaverville and is a network of professionally maintained hiking and biking trails ranging in difficulty in and around Trinity Alps and its majestic lakes.
Weaverville has notable and unusual original gold rush historical architecture, like its iconic spiral staircases on Main Street, an old bandstand, and red courthouse. The Jake Jackson Museum on Main Street is an original building from the 1850's and displays gold rush equipment, tools, photos and memorabilia. The Diggins Saloon and New York Saloon are still open and welcoming customers since the gold rush era.
Trinity Lake (off California State Route 3 just 15 minutes from Weaverville) is a man-made lake providing water to nearby Whiskeytown Lake in neighboring Shasta County, and farmers as far as the Central Valley of California. It became a popular secret recreation area for campers, boaters, and motorcyclists in the 1970s and continues its popularity in non-drought years.
Weaverville has relied on the Trinity Journal as its main source of county news, event calendar, and business advertisements since 1856. It is one of California's oldest newspapers still in print. The office of the Trinity Journal is housed in Weaverville's Historic District, right downtown. The Trinity Journal publishes weekly on Wednesdays.
Also unique to Weaverville is its electrical grid. Weaverville created its own power company (Trinity PUD) so it could be independent of PG&E and have the ability to create power from local hydro sources.
Geography and climate
Weaverville is located at (40.736687, -122.936208).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all land. – although the 1976–77 "rain year" with many days in May missing had a recorded total of only . The most precipitation in 24 hours was on January 4, 1982. Average annual snowfall is . The most snowfall in one month was in January 1950.
Demographics
thumb|upright|One of many spiral staircases in Weaverville
Population
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Weaverville had a population of 3,667. The population density was . The median age was 44.1 years. The age distribution was 21.8% under the age of 18, 5.5% aged 18 to 24, 24.4% aged 25 to 44, 25.9% aged 45 to 64, and 22.4% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 98.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 99.6 males age 18 and over.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census
There were 1,532 households, out of which 27.3% included children under the age of 18, 40.1% were married-couple households, 8.5% were cohabiting couple households, 29.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present, and 22.1% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present. 31.0% of households were one person, and 15.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32. There were 926 families (60.4% of all households).
There were 1,659 housing units at an average density of , of which 1,532 (92.3%) were occupied. Of these, 61.2% were owner-occupied and 38.8% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9%, and the rental vacancy rate was 6.6%.
The census reported that 3,473 people (96.5% of the population) lived in households, 61 (1.7%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 66 (1.8%) were institutionalized.
There were 1,513 households, 440 (29.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 622 (41.1%) were married couples living together, 185 (12.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 112 (7.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 145 (9.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 12 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 473 households (31.3%) were one person and 196 (13.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.30. There were 919 families (60.7% of households); the average family size was 2.80.
The age distribution was 842 people (23.4%) under the age of 18, 247 people (6.9%) aged 18 to 24, 734 people (20.4%) aged 25 to 44, 1,109 people (30.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 668 people (18.6%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 44.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.
There were 1,675 housing units at an average density of 160.7 per square mile, of the occupied units 908 (60.0%) were owner-occupied and 605 (40.0%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 6.8%. 2,089 people (58.0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 1,384 people (38.4%) lived in rental housing units.
Transportation
Major highways
- 25px State Route 299. SR 299 runs through the middle of Weaverville as Main Street, intersecting downtown with SR 3 (Trinity Lake Boulevard). The part of SR 299 between Arcata and Redding is the Trinity Scenic Byway, a National Forest Scenic Byway.
Government
In the California State Legislature, Weaverville is in , and in .
In the United States House of Representatives, Weaverville is in .
Sites of interest
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Name
!Image
!Date listed
!Location
!Description
|-
|Weaverville Joss House State Historic Park
|
| Added to California Historical markers in 1956
| Southwest corner of Main Street
| "The Temple of the Forest Beneath the Clouds"), a Taoist temple, was built in 1874 and is California's best-preserved example of a Gold Rush-era Chinese place of worship.
|-
|Racetrack-Airport-GolfCourse Historical Marker
|
| Marker erected in 2007
| Located at current site of the Trinity County Golf Course.
| Historical Marker for the site of former racetrack and airport
|-
|Weaverville Historic District
|
| Added to NHRP 1971
| Located on both sides of Main Street
| consisting of 25 historical buildings
|}
In popular culture
- The 1938 Warner Brothers Technicolor film Gold Is Where You Find It was filmed in and around Weaverville.
- The 1975 Mary McCaslin song "The Ballad of Weaverville" gives a fictional account of the town's namesake being a gambler, Jim Weaver, who had the town named after him as his final bet, after winning all of the town's gold.
- Road Trip Episode 154 with Huell Howser
- Weaverville is the setting for the fifteenth episode of the twenty fifth season of Intervention (TV series).
References
External links
- Chamber of Commerce