History of the Sutter Creek Inn
The New England style home that can be seen from bustling Sutter Creek Main Street nestled amongst trees and an expansive green lawn, has a history that dates back over 150 years across three families.
Built in 1859-60 of solid redwood, the story of the Sutter Creek Inn starts with Mr. John Keyes. He was a merchant, whose grocery and general merchandise store occupied space that adjoined Hotel Sutter (then known as the American Exchange Hotel), on Main Street. He had come across the plains with the Crockers, and settling in Sutter Creek, married young Clara McIntre. She hailed from New Hampshire via the Isthmus of Panama and lived with her family in a little house that still sits today at the foot of Hayden Alley, on Spanish Street.
John Keyes built a two-story, seven-room house (three bedrooms upstairs, parlor sitting room, dining room, kitchen downstairs, and stone cellar) for his new bride. At the back of the house he built two structures: a one-story wash house and a barn for horse & carriage. In 1875, John Keyes died, leaving Clara a widow at the age of 34. Their only child, May, did not survive through infancy.
Clara married again, to Edward Voorheis, whose mining interests had led him to investing-in and managing a great number of mines. A career that would eventually lead him to becoming a State Senator in 1890 - 1898. They lived in Clara’s home on Main Street and raised their daughter Gertrude. The Senator expanded the house with the addition of a billiard room in the front, a new kitchen and dining room behind the side porch, and a library. He acquired property across Hayden Alley and installed a second barn for a cow, and added a second story to the wash house. What was once a humble home was converted to a center of hospitality for visiting governors and legislators who made frequent visits to the Mother Lode country.
In 1905, some fifteen years before her parents, Clara McIntire and Senator Voorheis passed away, Gertrude married a mining engineer. They moved and lived in various mining communities around the state, and raised two children. In 1966, Gertrude and her daughter decided to sell the home on 75 Main Street to Jane Way before it fell into neglect.
In 1966, Jane Way, a Burlingame mother of five, bought the extensive property, and over a period of months, turned five bedrooms and two bathrooms into the first B&B in the Western United States. Jane had never thought of opening an inn before, but she fell in love with the residence while touring the Gold Country in 1965. It was unoccupied at the time, and the inspiration hit. Jane started the legacy of the Sutter Creek Inn and a tradition of hospitality that is continued today by the Michel family.
circa 1970s