When 22 year old John Bidwell crossed the Sierra Nevada into California he was one of the first pioneers to make an overland crossing into the state. Seven years later he was at John Sutter’s mill when gold was discovered and personally took the sample to San Francisco to be assayed. While everyone else was rushing to the American River to pan for gold, Bidwell staked out claims along the Feather River. With the gold that he found he bought 30,000 acres of fertile land and experimented with crops to find the ones best suited to the climate. He founded the town of Chico, built a general store, hotel, post office, and flour mill, and gave away plots of land to attract people to the town. Later in life he and his wife, Annie, donated land for a teacher’s college and a large city park.
The mansion, completed in 1868, has only 26 rooms and is not as architecturally elaborate as other mansions that we’ve visited. It was built with running water, flush toilets and gas lighting, very unusual for the time. A guided tour of the mansion is available for a small fee but visitors can walk the grounds and visit the small museum for free.
The museum and the first floor of the mansion are accessible. The second and third floors of the mansion are accessed by steps only.
The parking lot is small but RVs may fit by parking through two spaces. The lot was almost full when we visited so we parked along the small street that parallels the west side of Esplanade. Mansion
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