“I think it’s important for the community to understand what the community looked like. These are folks that made the community great,” said Chairman Bernie Zimmerman.

The Landmark Commission has designated more than 200 historic sites in Nevada County and in recent years has made a point to identify sites that represent the diversity of the gold rush — from Jewish miners at Hirschman Pond to Chinese railroad workers and Black families and churches.

In December, Nevada County Board of Supervisors approved the Carter landmark.

“It’s very exciting to unearth this history and give people a voice and recognition that may have been forgotten. African Americans are a vital part of our history, and their accomplishments should be duly noted. I’m grateful to the Historical Landmarks Commission for doing this important research and helping to illuminate all of our prominent citizens,” said District 1 Supervisor Heidi Hall.

Supervisor Hall served on the County’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee in 2021 and has been a leader in this area. In January 2023, the Board of Supervisors added equity and inclusion to their value statements.

Black History Month or African-American History Month is an annual observance that originated in the United States as a way to remember important people and events in the history of the African diaspora.

A Black woman journalist in the West

The landmark designation is exciting to local historian and author Linda Jack, a board member of Nevada County Historical Society who is writing a book about Black history in Nevada County and hopes to publish this year, with a book on Jennie Carter to follow.

“It’s gratifying to bring them forward,” said Jack.

When she first moved to Grass Valley in 2012, Linda Jack wanted to learn more about the history of her new neighborhood. So, she looked up old census records and was surprised to learn that a thriving Black community once lived in the historic settlement of Boston Ravine on the outskirts of Grass Valley in the 1800s.

This led her on a decade-long journey to learn more about Nevada County’s early Black pioneers. As was common in Gold Rush communities, Nevada County’s Black population was transient, but Jack estimates 200-300 African American individuals lived in the county at any given time.

Jennie Carter’s name popped up repeatedly in her research.

Jennie Carter was an accomplished writer and journalist who served as a local correspondent for “The Elevator,” a San Francisco newspaper serving Black audiences in Northern California.

“She was quite rare. A Black woman journalist in the West,” said Jack.

Jennie Carter’s husband, Dennis Carter was an accomplished musician, music teacher and civil rights advocate. Hailing from Philadelphia, Carter performed in the internationally acclaimed Frank Johnson Band, known to have toured Europe and played before Queen Victoria. He performed with white musicians in San Francisco, was well connected to civil rights activists in Sacramento and San Francisco, belonged to several literary societies and even ran for constable (sheriff) in Nevada County.

“I believe they were the most accomplished Black couple in the community,” said Jack.

When Jennie Correll Carter was about 36 and Dennis Drummond Carter was about 52, the couple married in Nevada City in 1866. Dennis Carter may have known Jennie’s editor Philip Bell earlier, as they both came to California from Philadelphia.

From 1867 to 1873 the couple lived on Drummond Street in Nevada City. Dennis Carter had bought the property years earlier and Drummond Street is believed to have been named after his mother’s family. The professional couple later moved to what is now Grove Street.

“Dennis, like everyone else, came to prospect for gold… and like most people realized he couldn’t make a living mining,” said Jack.

Jennie Carter was known to have her nose in a book all the time. She was from New York state and had previously been married to a white itinerant preacher with whom she had three children. Little is known about their separation or if Carter had contact with her children after the divorce.

“It would appear that he was an abolitionist,” said Jack.