At The Dorrington Hotel: Ghost Celebrates 100th Birthday

By Antoinette May Herndon

Situated close to the easternmost edge of Calaveras County, the historic Dorrington Hotel oozes Gold Rush history. The surroundings are gorgeous: an icy spring, acres of pine groves, rolling meadows, mountain peaks, and a centuries-old sugar pine tree.

It’s easy to imagine the majesty of the Miwok and Washoe Indians who once hunted by the cold spring. Perhaps they watched as Jedediah Smith made a hasty camp there during his retreat from proprietary Mexican officials during the spring of 1827.

Be assured that John Ebbetts and his large mule train made an impact when they passed by in April 1831 on their way to traverse the pass that would one day bear Ebbetts’s name.

In 1850 when John Gardner, a Scottish immigrant, explored the area, the road was still little more than a trail. A rider starting from the nearest town at sunrise on a summer day, might only hope to reach the springs by late evening. Few but herders and stock men cared to make that journey.

Gardner was of another breed. “This is the place!” he wrote to his new bride, Rebecca, who had remained at home in Scotland waiting eagerly for his summons. John purchased the pristine wilderness—160 acres of it—from Barnabus Smith. Smith, a former militia man, had received the “bounty land” as a government grant in acknowledgment of his services in the War of 1812 but had never improved it.

John and Rebecca were of a very different mind. Within a year the brave bride had sailed round the Horn to join her husband in the legendary Sierra Gold Country. Slowly, log by log, a stagecoach stop went up on what would one day become the hotspot of the Big Trees-Carson Valley Road.

The Gardners named their place Cold Spring Ranch, but the town that grew up around the small hostelry showed their admiration for the bonnie lassie by calling it Dorrington—for Rebecca’s maiden name.

Over the years the hotel served as a depot for stockmen as well as a summer resort for wealthy easterners and Europeans visiting the giant sequoia redwoods. Then John Ebbetts discovered silver east of the Sierra and suddenly merchants in Murphys were clamoring for a road to transport supplies over the pass to miners.

Gardner and Ebbetts were just the men to build it. Their toll road opened in 1862. The two controlled access by means of a marine cable that could be raised or lowered—a passage restriction that continued until 1910.

One hundred years later, Highway 4 is a popular route linking the San Joaquin Valley to the high Sierras. Skiers, vacationers and locals like us flock to the historic Dorrington Hotel with its lively bar and thriving restaurant.

Legends swirl about Rebecca Dorrington Gardner who survived her husband by many years. One story has it that she went out on a cold night during a snow storm, lost her way and froze to death. While others insist that Rebecca was massacred by Indians or fell down the hotel stairs and bled to death. The truth is that the first lady of Dorrington died of natural causes on Oct. 16, 1910 at age 83.

Nevertheless, the tale persists that Rebecca loved her hotel so much in life that she has refused to check out—ever. Many of the Dorrington’s overnight visitors speak of a shadowy figure who parts the curtains to look out of otherwise unoccupied rooms. Some have seen a phantom foot print by their bedside. Was it left perhaps by the first proprietor who is thought to roam the hotel at night.

The legend of Rebecca and her ghostly heritage passes from owner to owner gathering momentum along the way.

Bonnie Saville, who with her husband, Arden, bought the Dorrington Hotel in 1977 and lived there for 28 years, felt Rebecca’s presence right from the start. “It wasn’t exactly welcoming,” Bonnie admitted to me. “Arden and I were the first owners to make changes since the Gardners originally built

the place. I know that Rebecca didn’t like that interference, didn’t like it at all. I’m sure she thought of us as intruders.

“In the early days I used to keep the restaurant open from 6 a.m. till ten at night which meant that my husband couldn’t begin his carpentry work until quite late. Rebecca would allow him to work until three, then she would start acting up. The radio shut itself off, extension cords came unplugged, lights went on and off by themselves.”

Over the years, Bonnie believes, Rebecca’s spirit became accustomed to their presence. The incidences of people being locked in their rooms, doors slamming by themselves, curtains moving and unexplained footsteps gradually diminished.

Marc Lanthier, who bought the Dorrington Hotel in 2006, has his own stories to tell. Just before Christmas, he took two pictures of the hotel from across the street. It was dark and cold, but Marc had just put up his holiday lights and was proud of them. The next day Marc loaded the pictures onto his computer. One came out bright and clear, but in the other a phantom figure floats over the hotel.

Could it be the ghost of Rebecca Dorrington Gardner still watching over her beloved inn? Marc thinks so. VITALS: Marc Lanthier has lovingly restored the Dorrington Hotel to provide a gracious and relaxed atmosphere. Think western colonial. Five bedrooms are delightfully furnished with shiny brass beds, impressive antiques, cozy quilts. There are two well appointed bathrooms. Amenities include a high end continental breakfast. Rates start at $135 a night. Excellent gourmet dinners are offered at the adjoining 1852 Restaurant Friday, Saturday and Sundays from 5:30 p.m. on. Marc is a foodie from way back (remember his restautant, Auberge 1899, in Murphys), trust him to have hired a dynamite chef, Robert Muler. Also check out the Lube Room next door, a former garage morphed into a lively bar and burger joint.

Dorrington Hotel, 3431 Highway 4, Dorrington. Phone: 795- 5800.