Quincy Town

Today I am going to write about our small town in Plumas County. There is also a Quincy, Massachusetts and a Quincy, Illinois.  Our Quincy is a small isolated mountain town in northeastern California named after Quincy, Illinois. It was dubbed Quincy by a man named James Bradley who owned land in both places and was instrumental in the town's establishment in the 1850's. If you are interested in the history of Quincy you can check out this book by our local historian and museum director, Scott Lawson. 
Scott's book on the history of Quincy

If you like big city life, Quincy is not for you. If you like malls and fast food and traffic and chain stores and anonymity, Quincy is not for you. But there is a lot to LOVE about this town. Partially because of its isolated nature its inhabitants have learned the fine art of getting along with and supporting one another. It is one of those towns where your doctor's kid is on the same soccer team as your child and her husband used to be in your book club and the longer you live here the more the web of connections grows and overlaps. Soon you find that you are enmeshed in the community. There is a small college (Feather River College), an active artist community (Plumas Arts), a wonderful food cooperative (Quincy Natural Foods), a sweet little farmer's market, amazing and authentic community events, natural beauty, outdoor opportunities galore, a quaint historic downtown filled with local businesses, a world-class music festival (High Sierra Music Festival), art galleries, a wine bar, a local radio station (KQNY), and a laid-back small-town vibe.


Before my husband and I were married we chose Quincy as the place we would like to "settle down" and start a family. We lived in South Lake Tahoe at the time and while we loved working and playing there, something was definitely missing as far as a sense of community. The city is one long strip with no centralized downtown area and a transient population drawn by the ski hills and casinos. Our hometowns were no longer affordable and our work dictated that we choose an area with a U.S. Forest Service presence. We travelled north to Quincy on a couple of weekends and found it to be a seemingly idyllic place where the sun always shone and the children looked you in the eye and said hello. We bought a house before either of us had a job here. We went back to Tahoe, crossed our fingers and waited. Eight months later a job opened up that I was able to lateral into. That was 8 years ago.


P.S. It turns out the sun doesn't shine EVERY day, especially on our north facing property in the winter time. Subject of another post......