I’ve been visiting Sacramento my entire life. As a kid, my family ventured into the state’s capital numerous times, mainly to learn more about where my mother was born in 1927 before her family uprooted and moved to China for the next 15 years. My great aunt Emily lived there as well, being born on 42nd Street and living in the same house her entire life.
Before Emily left this world, I was fortunate to have toured Sacramento many times with her as she shared her vast treasure trove of memories and tales of the city.
On a recent weekend trip, my wife Sarah and I revisited some of those spots in hopes of creating a deeper picture of earlier times in Sacramento and of my family story that, on my mom’s side, makes me a fourth-generation Californian.
We drove from Watsonville to Hwy 101 and headed north into San Jose where we stopped at Lion’s Plaza on Tully Road where there was some spillover from the Chinese New Year’s celebrations. As strings of firecrackers crackled around us we checked out the number of Asian stores and restaurants around the crowded plaza.
Then we got on Hwy 680 and drove into the hills that are covered with a wind farm and hundreds of twirling windmill blades that add a surreal tone to the otherwise smooth grassy hills.
We spent our first night in Suisin City, a place we’ve grown fond of for its history, reliable restaurants and easy access to some rich wilderness spots, like Grizzly Island.
Embassy Suites on the edge of Old Town Sacramento has proven time and again to be a worthy spot to stay while visiting Sacramento. We can walk out their front down, view the State Capitol building to the right as we cross the Capitol Mall Parkway and check out the 1935 Tower Bridge to the left. The vertical lift bridge crosses the Sacramento River, linking West Sacramento in Yolo County to the west, with the capital and serves as a great entrance to Old Town.
My great, great-grandfather, Fred Shepherd was caught up in the swarm of gold rush fever in the mid-1800s. He was born in 1831 in New Bedford, Mass., and left Boston in 1852. He came around the Cape in a ship known as a bark, and ended up in San Pedro, Calif., in 1853. Eventually, he worked his way to Sacramento where he married Lucy Outten. One of their children, George, was my great-grandfather.
Fred was the Sacramento City Assessor, Deputy County Assessor and Deputy Tax Collector, and compiled the family tree I now own. One goal of this trip was to pay a visit to these folks at the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery, where the other Shepherds are buried. We cleared away some weeds and took photos.
The cemetery was established in 1849 on 10 acres donated by Sacramento founder John Augustus Sutter, Jr. In 1850, 600 cholera epidemic victims were buried in mass graves here. It was declared a State Historic Landmark in 1957. A long list of noted names is found here, including Mark Hopkins Jr., a founder of the Central Pacific Railroad, and Edwin B. Crocker, California Supreme Court Justice and founder of the Crocker Art Museum. In one corner of the cemetery stands the Shepherd plot.
It’s an unusual thing, to stand before a couple graves and try to think about a bunch of family members I’ve never met.
We had dinner that night at Thai Basil on J Street with family members. Afterwards we wandered through the streets of Old Town and soaked in the early-day flavors of the big city on the river. Emily told me that on many occasions in earlier days, she had taken a ferry from Sacramento to the Ferry Building in San Francisco along the Sacramento River. There’s still a huge ferry boat docked there on the river at Old Town, the Delta King, that features a fine restaurant and plenty of deck chairs to sit back and take in the sights.
After a great breakfast (with make-your-own waffles) that Embassy Suites includes in their fare, we rolled south toward home along Highway 99.
