Relief Hill - A defunct commune, a noted hideaway - a waystation on the '60s Underground Railway. A library, a schoolhouse, a town with history, hidden somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow. a repository of memory and Revolution.
The 'town' of Relief Hill was the first scraps from the Donner Party were brought after being rescued. Later, finding traces of gold the entire town was deconstructed, board by board and moved one half mile to the present location. If you can find the cemetary, you are standing near the original town site.
A deracinated town, lost and abandoned - then rediscovered by bands of roving gypsy activists in the '60s. It's empty again, been that way. Could be the karma of the place. You will find Indian's (Virginia) grave in the cemetary - she being the first to be buried there after 150 years. Indian brought Ed to Relief Hill in the yellow Dodge stakebed (still parked at my place). Ed was the second person to get buried at Relief Hill, despite the objections of Virginia's friends. Some feuds just never die...
The next caretaker of the community settled in the old schoolhouse in 2001, where Indian previously resided, and kept watch until his departure in 2008. It was no small task since the land was privately owned and off the grid. One more attempt to settle there was done from 2008 -2009 and since then it has remained unsettled and remains a piece of private property with a half caved in roadway near the cometary, leaving the road locked and impassible.