Sutter Creek is named for John Sutter, who camped here in 1848 with a group of Indians. But the town actually got started around the following year or so, when a few of the early miners erected a community tent to use on rainy Sundays when they couldn't get to Jackson or Drytown. Later, it achieved permanency as an important supply for the quartz mining that started up in the area in the early 1850's. Hetty Green, at one time the richest woman in the world because of her Wall Street financial genius, once owned the old Eureka Mine. Tailings and a few timbers are all that's left of the mine now. The town's main street is lined with old buildings. Among the oldest structures are the Masonic, & I.O.O.F. Halls (1865), Methodist Church (1862), Malatesta building (1860), the stone Brignole building (1859), and the Belotti Inn (1860), originally the American Exchange Hotel. Houses with a New England flavor, are found at each end of town, and along some of the quiet side streets. One of the oldest, the former home of California Senator E.C. Voorhies, is now the rustic Sutter Creek Inn. Probably Sutter Creek's most famous success stories concerns Leland Stanford. As a young man, Stanford acquired some experience as a merchant in Sacramento, and had picked up a stake in Sutter Creek's Lincoln Mine as payment of a merchant's debt. He worked the claim, but suffered repeated failures, and being discouraged, decided to sell the property for $5000. At the last minute, Robert Downs, the mine foreman talked him out of it, and shortly after, a big strike was made, and the Lincoln, or Union Mine became a bonanza. With this money to start, Stanford became a railroad king, Governor of California, a U.S. Senator, and the founder of Stanford University. The Downs home is located on Spanish Street, across from the Catholic Church, and the mine site is at the north end of town. Submitted by Bob Stelow.

One of the most picturesque towns located on Highway 49 is Sutter Creek. Among the oldest buildings are the Bartolo Brignole general store built in 1858 and the Bellotti Inn constructed during the 1860s. Two bed-and-breakfast inns on the west side of Main Street date from the 1850s. Said to be the last water-powered foundry in the United States is Knight's Foundry built in 1873. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth.