Audio tour North Star Mining Museum & Empire Hotel

AS OF 4-6-25, THIS TOUR IS STILL IN PRODUCTION. THIS MESSAGE WILL BE DELETED ONCE IT IS COMPLETE.

My name is Rose Murphy, and I'm a biographer for the Grass Valley Museum. I am Lisa Redfern. I'm on the board of Sierra College Press. Rose and I are both members of the Nevada County Historical Society and historical fiction authors.

This tour begins with a gentleman who lived in a house that was where the museum parking lot is located now.

The tour leads around the outside of the mining museum and identifies mining equipment, then makes a stop near the freeway to talk about the huge impact it made on the community.

Finally, you'll cross the street and listen to stories about Empire miners and World War II workers by the Wild Eye Pub.

Voices you'll hear are me and Rose, the gentlemen, Vince Seck, who is a retired Nevada County police officer and a museum docent, and also author of the book Lake Olympia and Greenwood Park, the late Mikhail Graham, who was a well-known local music show producer, and finally, you'll hear from Beth Moore, owner of The Wild Eye Pub formerly known as the Empire Hotel.

This tour platform is GPS enabled, which means your phone will play the audio for each tour stop when you walk close to it. Know that the audio from the previous tour stop must finish playing before another one will begin.

You can also start and stop audio by tapping the control buttons. Each tour stop includes pictures. You must double click on the title to access the screen, showing the pictures at the end of the tour. In the Editor's note, you'll find a PDF resource sheet with links to a variety of additional materials associated with tour locations and / or people providing information. We have multiple walking tours in production for this area. Check the Izi app to see which ones have been published.

For tours that go down into the ravine. We recommend downloading the tours while you're in the parking lot. So if there are internet connectivity issues, your tour will be uninterrupted.