On Hwy-50, 37 miles East of Sacramento. Once known as Hangtown for the eagerness of locals to execute alleged wrongdoers by hanging them two at a time from a tree, Placerville benefitted from its crossroads position during the gold-rush and quickly expanded into a major trading center. Future rail magnate Mark Hopkins owned a grocery store here and John Studebaker spent his early years in Placerville perfecting miners’ wheelbarrows before he found greater riches and fame producing cars. Placerville’s main streets have the usual Gold Country conglomeration of restored Victorian buildings, and also the El Dorado County Museum (http://museum.edcgov.us), 100 Placerville Drive, which shows off a large horde of miners’ tools and machinery. More unique to Placerville is hangtown fry, a dish of bacon, eggs and oysters served in several local eateries – it tastes better than it sounds.