Angels Hotel

The building went up four times in six years. C. C. Lake pitched a canvas hotel here in 1851, replaced it with a one-story wooden building, rebuilt in stone in 1855 and added a second floor in 1857, which is the pace of a town that kept getting richer. Samuel Clemens heard a bar-room yarn here about a weighted frog, and the story he made of it was published in 1865 and made his name. The bronze leaves County off the title.

What the plaque says

ANGELS HOTEL C.C. LAKE ERECTED HERE A CANVAS HOTEL IN 1851. IT WAS REPLACED BY A ONE-STORY WOODEN STRUCTURE, AND THEN BY ONE OF STONE IN 1855, WITH A SECOND STORY BEING ADDED IN 1857. HERE, SAMUEL CLEMENS FIRST HEARD THE YARN, WHICH WAS LATER TO BRING HIM FAME AS MARK TWAIN, AUTHOR OF "THE JUMPING FROG OF CALAVERAS". CALIFORNIA REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 734 PLAQUE PLACED BY THE CALIFORNIA STATE PARK COMMISSION IN COOPERATION WITH PRINCESS PARLOR NO. 84, NATIVE DAUGHTERS OF THE GOLDEN WEST, JULY 31, 1960.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Columbia State Historic Park — 7.8 mi
  The Gem of the Southern Mines, still open for business on a car-free Gold Rush main street.

More markers nearby

• Angels Camp — steps away
• Prince-Garibardi Building — 1.1 mi
• Altaville — 1.1 mi
• Altaville Grammar School — 1.6 mi