Historical Marker · No. 855
Mount Saint Mary's Convent and Academy
Grass Valley, Nevada County · California
Erected by The State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Mount Saint Mary’s Historic Preservation Committee and the Sisters of Mercy, October 28, 1972, 1972
An orphanage opens where fathers die. This one served the northern mines from 1866 to 1932, and the mines are the reason it was needed: hard-rock work killed men by rockfall, cage failure, silicosis and the miners' consumption that followed the drills, and it killed them young enough to leave children. The Sisters of Mercy also ran an academy here for nearly a century. The bronze lists both functions and the dates, and does not connect them.
What the plaque says
Built by the Reverend Thomas J. Dalton and dedicated May 2, 1865 by Bishop Eugene O'Connell as Sacred Heart Convent and Holy Angels Orphanage. Under the Sisters of Mercy it served from 1866 to 1932 as the first orphanage of the Northern Mines. It functioned as an Academy (1868-1965) and a convent (1866-1968).
Where it stands
39.21423, -121.06760 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Empire Mine State Historic Park — 1.3 miThe oldest, deepest, richest hard-rock gold mine in California, with 367 miles of flooded tunnels underneath.
- Nevada City — 4.2 miGaslamps, brick storefronts, and the Nisenan who are still fighting to be recognized on their own ground.
- Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park — 14 miA canyon washed out of a mountain by water cannon, and the lawsuit that ended hydraulic mining.
More markers nearby
- Home of Lola Montez — steps away
- Site of One of the First Discoveries of Quartz Gold in California — 0.3 mi
- Home of Lotta Crabtree — 0.3 mi
- Holbrooke Hotel — 0.4 mi