The House on Mill Street

Its first owner was Mary Elizabeth (Holmes) Beedle, born in 1846. She lived here for decades and died in this house on February 12, 1927, at eighty-one — by every account a beloved Nevada City resident. She left it to her daughter, and the house carried on without her.

In the century since, it has been a boarding house, a law office, a supper club and a residence handed down through generations. Every one of them left something behind: a doorway framed shut, a layer of wallpaper, newspapers stuffed into a wall.

Half of it came down to the studs. We pulled out the old knob-and-tube wiring — long retired, but still threaded through the walls — ran all new plumbing, and insulated framing that had spent more than a century with nothing in it but air. Behind the lath: newspaper from the 1920s, still legible, square-cut nails from the 1800s, and old-growth lumber of a quality you simply can't buy anymore.

What could stay, stayed: the windows, the trim profiles, the tall proportions of rooms built for a different century. What had to go was replaced properly, once. In the summer of 2023 we opened our doors.

We were married in 2019 at the Miner's Foundry, a few minutes' walk down the street from the house, and moved up to the area for good shortly after. Now it's the four of us and our dog. Finnley, who is five; Forrest, who is two; and Nala, who is nine and has firm opinions about which corner of the back patio gets the afternoon sun.

Whether you're here for a slow weekend on the river, a wedding downtown, a family reunion, a retreat or nothing in particular — the house is ready for you. We'd love to host you.