 Gold Country |  Malakoff Home |
The Lola Montez House was originally constructed in 1851 for the office of Gilmor Meredith’s
Gold Hill Mining Company. It was on this site the year before that the first election in town was
conducted. Beneath a large oak tree, a cigar box held the ballots as the miners elected a justice
of the peace and town constable. The building also served as the first schoolhouse for a short
while in 1852. Lola Montez purchased the house in 1853, and in the front yard started what was
probably the first cactus garden in the state by transplanting different plants she found while
horseback riding through the countryside. The current structure is a duplicate of the original,
built from a sketch originally published in 1854. It is located at 248 Mill Street, near the
center of downtown Grass Valley.
Gold Country | Malakoff Home |