The Rescue Historical Society is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to sharing information about the founders, history, and events in the Rescue, California and surrounding area. Our motto is to Preserving the past … for the future!
One of the first buildings to be constructed in the place now called Rescue was the Kelley Creek Store. It was built in 1849 or 1850 at the current intersection of Green Valley Road and the eastern end of Deer Valley Road.

The community that is now called Rescue was officially recognized June 12, 1895, with the establishment of the post office. The first postmaster, Dr. Merritt Hunter, was the great-grandfather of our historian, Francis “Carp” Carpenter. Prior to this time, Rescue had been an area of intense gold mining activity with businesses supporting the mining interests.
Green Valley Road, originally called the Old Coloma Road, was the first road between Coloma and Sutter’s Fort, and a major thoroughfare during Gold Rush times. In the 1860s it was the Pony Express Route, and in the early 1910s it was, for a time, part of the Lincoln Highway, the first road that linked the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

New members are welcome and encouraged. Everyone is invited to share the information we have gathered. We are eager to learn new things and solicit any information, photographs, or documents people might share with us. Write Ask@RescueHistorical.org with questions, comments, and requests.
History is a treasure. The history of Rescue, California, is a gold mine!