I wonder how old this ghost type is. Located on an old building in historic Sutter Creek in Amador County in California’s Sierra Nevada (the town takes its name from John A. Sutter, who owned the sawmill where gold was found in January 1848), it reads “Brignole Estate General Merchandise.”
According to a history of Amador County published in 1927, “Bartholomeo Brignole … an energetic and scholarly young Italian, came to California in 1850, and mined successfully in the hills about Jackson and Sutter Creek, returning to Italy to claim his bride, afterward establishing their home in Sutter Creek in 1863. In that year, the business was founded where it is today, and is the oldest active mercantile establishment in Sutter Creek. ”
So the store was still operating in 1927 — but for how long afterward?
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