Happy “official” 176th birthday, Sacramento! On February 27, 1850, Sacramento became an incorporated city in the territory of California. California, however, did not become a state until September 9, 1850. Sacramento City was founded along Sacramento River’s waterfront, where Old Sacramento is today, in December 1848 when John Sutter Jr. and Samuel Brannan hired Captain William H. Warner, Lt. William Tecumseh Sherman, and Lt. Edward O. Ord to survey the land from Sutter’s Fort to the Sacramento

The Sacramento Historic City Cemetery contains the gravesites of the city’s earliest inhabitants. One of those buried at the cemetery is Nelson Ray. Nelson was born into slavery and came to California during the Gold Rush. He was able to mine for enough gold to secure the freedom of his wife and some of his children. He will later reunite with other family in Sacramento. The life of Nelson Ray is an inspiring story that also helps represent the Black experience in California during the Gold Rush