Staycations B&B Style

Solo Rejuvenation Couples Reconnection

Explore, Escape, Enjoy

Instead of spending money to get out of town, only to end up in a cheap hotel, why not stay in town and treat yourself to upgraded accommodations with the money you’d save on gas!

Prices: Weekdays - $210 - $225 Weekend - $240 - $255

On-Site Activities: Upstairs game room with billiard table, card table, board games and dart board, all season/all hours access to indoor hot tub, private “you-pick” apple orchard on-site, wrap around porch with beautiful view and ample seating for porch sittin’, and unique rooms (one even allows well-behaved pups!). Great location to stay on-site or venture out!

Nearby: Located where Placerville and Apple Hill meet, you’ll have the choice to explore local farms or our historic town. Within a 10-minute drive you could be golfing, wine-tasting, dining, visiting shops, learning about local history at Gold Bug Mine or Fountain & Tallman Museum, or seeing a live band. You deserve it!

A Southwestern style villa offers rejuvenation through nature, art and music

Prices: $295 - $394 (includes private tequila tasting!) with 2-night minimum

On-Site Activities: Complimentary tequila tasting in the Agave Bar, 2-mile trail with views and wildlife, multiple conversation areas to unwind and relax, optional massage and yoga packages. Owners are working on sustainably growing their own agave. Great location to start or end your daily (or nightly) adventures!

Nearby: Just minutes from the Lotus/Coloma area, you won’t be short on fun outdoor activities. Marshall State Park with museum and trails, whitewater rafting, live music venue, four wineries and a brewery, and several amazing restaurants are all within less than a 10-minute drive. Give yourself some R & R!

A short, scenic drive into the heart of Camino will lead you to this quiet retreat

Prices: Midweek - $199 - $269 Weekend $220 - $295

On-Site Activities: Hosts offer a wine-tasting happy hour around 5p each evening, beautiful gazebo/fire pit for the adventurous, wide selection of board games and books to borrow. Beautiful location to unplug and rest up!

Nearby: Camino is home to many beautiful farms, wineries, and breweries. Walking distance to Delfino Farm and Jack Russell Brewery. Besides all the nearby farms with activities, it’s less than a 10-minute drive to the Forester Restaurant, Apple Mountain Golf Course, and Highway 50 Brewery & Nello Winery, which often offer live music. Sometimes all you need is to slow down in the peace and quiet.

The Future of Okei’s Gravestone

by Herb Tanimoto

Every immigrant group coming to American shores faced tremendous obstacles in achieving their dreams of success.

The Japanese immigrant story is no exception. Many began coming after the labor shortage caused by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Soon Japanese immigrants found prejudice extended to them with the passage of alien land laws and the Asian Exclusion Act of 1924, which were not rescinded until the 1950s. Then after WWII, a dark chapter in American history played out when approximately 120,000 innocent Japanese American citizens lost their homes, possessions and much more, in internment camps. With hard work, especially in agriculture, the Japanese were nonetheless able to rebuild and thrive within American society.

In their quest to find cultural identity in America, many early Japanese immigrants were astounded to learn of the discovery of the grave of a Japanese girl. The grave was hidden in a thicket of brush and trees in the Sierra foothills and they learned her name: Okei. Amazingly, she had preceded most of them by 30 to 40 years! But who was she? What hardships did the young girl face as one of the first Japanese immigrants?

The discovery of her gravestone revealed a previously unknown story about the first group of Japanese settlers in America who started a tea and silk farm in the gold fields near Coloma. Back in 1869, they were refugees from a civil war. Their dreams of success ultimately vanished when arid summer conditions killed their thousands of tea plants, the lifeblood of their farm. Their Prussian honorary samurai leader, John Henry Schnell, abandoned them as the colony disbanded within two years. continued on page 16

Of the original 22 colonists, few remained in America. Among them were Okei and her friend, Matsunosuke Sakurai. They became part of the neighboring Veerkamp farming family who subsequently purchased the former Colony site. Perhaps Okei longed to return to Japan, but it was unlikely she had the funds to return home. By 1871, she had contracted a deadly fever. At the age of only nineteen, her untimely death made her the first Japanese woman and immigrant who died and became buried on American soil.

The Veerkamps arranged her burial on the knoll where she often sat and gazed longingly in the direction of her homeland. In an act of tremendous kindness, Matsunosuke saved funds for some 15 years to purchase a lasting marble marker for her grave. It was carefully placed so the Japanese lettering faced west toward Aizu Wakamatsu, Okei’s homeland; and the English lettering faced inland America, the country where she still rests in peace today.