Rough And Ready, California was first established in the fall of 1849, named after President Zachary Taylor, aka Old Rough and Ready. Started as a mining community, the first post office was established in 1851.

Rough and Ready is the only mining town to have seceded from the Union in April of 1850. Populated primarily by miners from Wisconsin, they wanted to do away with a new tax on mining claims and the prohibition of Alcohol in Nevada County. Other problems riled up the citizens, including the Post Office insisting they either call them selves Rough OR Ready, but not both. The town folks realized during the US Independence celebration just a few months later that they were no longer entitled to celebrate, so they rescinded the secession through another vote, ending the short lived "Great Republic of Rough and Ready".

A California Ghost Town, Rough and Ready is home to just under 1,000 residents today. Photo by Kathy Weiser-Alexander.