Somersville, California
Coordinates: 37°57′25″N 121°51′52″W / 37.95694°N 121.86444°W
| Somersville | |
|---|---|
| Former settlement | |
  Somersville Location in California | |
| Coordinates: 37°57′25″N 121°51′52″W / 37.95694°N 121.86444°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Contra Costa County |
| Elevation[1] | 741 ft (226 m) |
Somersville (also, Sommerville and Summerville)[1] is an unincorporated ghost town in eastern Contra Costa County, California.[2] It is located 6 miles (10 km) north-northeast of Mount Diablo,[3] at an elevation of 741 feet (226 m).[1]
Somersville was founded in the 1850s[2] by gold miners. The town is no longer populated and is within the boundaries of the East Bay Regional Park District's Black Diamond Mines Regional Park.[2] Somersville Road was named after the town; it is a major north-south arterial trunk road in the closest existing neighbor: Antioch. Somersville's ruins contain a fairly extensive amount of graves in its cemetery,[2] many of whom are dead miners who died in accidents in the coal mines.[2] The Somersville mines are now sealed to prevent entry due to frequent incidents of people becoming lost inside them during the mid 20th century.[2]
A post office operated at Somersville from 1863 to 1910.[3] The name is in honor of Francis Somers, coal mine founder.[3]
See also
- Nortonville, a similar nearby ghost town
References
- 1 2 3 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Somersville, California
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 SOMERSVILLE, GhostTowns.com, retrieved September 12, 2007
- 1 2 3 Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 704. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.
