Chinatown Gardens’ Spring Clean Up

May 30, 2018 by contributor

Take a drive down East Center Street, just a block from downtown, and admire the amazing Spring Clean-Up at our historic Chinatown Gardens. As part of maintaining the Moke Hill fire break, local volunteers and Cal Fire are keeping vegetation under control. In the 1860s, Moke Hill Chinese terraced this natural gully with stone retaining walls to make level garden plots and built a Buddhist temple and tea house adjacent to Center Street.  Among the vegetables and fruits was a pond for growing water chestnuts.

 

In April, stalwart volunteers cut weeds, pruned and burned brush piles. Thanks to Ric, Richard, Will, Howard, Chris, Mary, and Julia.  In April, CalFire Captain John Lawson and Crew 2 of the Vallecito facility spent two days giving the area a thorough buzz cut, and stacked piles to be burned next winter. We now have a clean fire buffer for the town.  Rebuilding of a damaged stone wall is being undertaken by Howard Little.

 

Everyone is invited to walk through the historic area, view the stone walls built by our Chinese gardeners, and enjoy the open space. Constructed over natural springs, the ground will retain moisture for most of the summer. The garden was purchased by the Mokelumne Hill History Society in 2015 to be preserved as part of our town’s heritage.   Please no digging, metal detecting, or disturbance of stones or artifacts.  Call Julia (286-1182) or Mary Anne (217-7333) to report any problems.