1859 National Hotel in Jamestown, California - Sierra Foothills Gold and Wine Country
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AAA 3-Diamond award for the 29th consecutive year
 

"The National Hotel is one of our favorites. Excellence always!!" - G.&G. V. Stockton, CA


While you are here, you may meet Flo, our friendly ghostMeet Flo, the National Hotel's Friendly Ghost
Flo generally stays upstairs in the hotel, seemingly favoring the rooms in the front of the building although she has, on occasion, been seen early in the morning downstairs, floating through the dining room and right through the walls.

Each of our guest rooms has a notebook which welcomes guests to share their experiences and comments. There are numerous accounts of doors slamming, lights going on and off, clothing being dumped from suitcases onto the floor, and a woman's sobbing coming from the hallway in the middle of the night. Whoever she is, she adds a little extra spice to all our lives. Many a non-believer has left here with a whole new attitude. Our housekeepers say they have gone into rooms only to be greeted by icy cold air within the room even though the heater was working.

...A Story from Long Ago - Click Here
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1859 Historic National Hotel ~ Reservations:(800) 894-3446
Stephen Willey, Your Host since 1974

18183 Main Street • P.O. Box 502 • Jamestown, CA 95327
Phone: (209) 984-3446 • Fax:(209) 984-5620
Email the National Hotel

Member of Small Elegant Hotels
Member of the California Bed & Breakfast Association

Original Site Design by GG Gruel

Meet FLO - Our resident ghost or spirit at the 1859 Historic National Hotel, located in Jamestown, California, near Sonora, Columbia and Murphys. This is the heart of the Gold Country, located in Tuolumne County, and home to a number of ghosts and spirits. Here, one can find ghost towns, ghost stories, ghost hunters, hunted hotels, and, not the least, ghost tours led by a local guide. One can also find hauntings and haunted places. Our Flo, provides a wonderful presence here and is an easy spirit with which to live. It is not surprising that many of the haunted places in Ca are located in a Gold Country lodging, which are sometimes referred to as haunted California. If looking for a Yosemite lodging, and/or a relaxing and romantic time, come to our Gold Country bed and breakfast. From our bandb, one can visit Yosemite National Park, Groveland, Pinecrest, Angels Camp or Twain Harte. The Historic National Hotel is the perfect country inn and lodging, for anyone looking for Historic Elegance in the Gold Country.



 

 

BACK

The following is the result of some research by a local writer.
Read it for yourself and you decide.

   In 1897, the railroad arrived in Jamestown. John Davies came west from Massachusetts to work on that railroad in 1895. Back in Quincy, John's parents had died and he had money troubles and couldn't find work. This was why he responded to a poster in Boston about working on the railroad. Leaving his fiancé, he promised to send for her as soon as enough money had been saved.

     He arrived in San Francisco in 1895 anxious to begin work and headed towards the Sierra Nevada foothills where it was said he could find work on a railroad headed for the foothills. He soon worked his way up to being a track-laying foreman and wrote his fiancé back in Quincy and said that when the train reached its ending in Jamestown he would send for her and they would have a small house as he had been promised an engineer's position at the terminus.

     About a year later, the train reached Jamestown, but Davies was not present. Railroad records only mention that Davies didn't show up for work one day. He was never seen again. Journal entries show that one of the people to which Davies owed money was a criminal in Boston. It isn't known if Davies ever sent the gangster money or not. However, it was reported that two tough-looking men had arrived on a ship in San Francisco and were asking questions about the railroad and, in particular, John Davies. It was just a short time later that Davies disappeared. Some believe he had gone into hiding while others thought that he must have left the country. Those who knew of his love for a girl in Quincy felt that they had gone away together.

     Once the track was laid into Jamestown, a young woman arrived in town and took a room at Jamestown's National Hotel on Main Street. Her name is unknown as a later fire in the early 1900s destroyed all records. However, people remembered that the woman went to the Sierra Railway station every day asking the railroad workers about John Davies. She could be heard during the night sobbing in her room.

     She never discovered any information about Davies' whereabouts and her visits to the train station grew further and further apart until she almost never left her room. At night, she was often seen walking through the halls. No purpose was ever discovered as to why she did this. About four weeks after her arrival, the innkeeper found her body laying on the bed. A piece of paper lay on the small nightstand that read, "John Dearest, I love you so much and will never give up searching for you." She didn't sign the note and her death was a mystery. The local doctor just said that her heart stopped and that there was nothing else wrong with her.

     Could it be she died of a broken heart as some claim? Was Davies missing or dead? Does this mystery woman still roam the hallways of the National Hotel searching for her lost love? Is she the ghost which hotel employees endearingly call 'Flo'?