Jessica Hughart and partner Greg Kuntz purchased the Cook House in historic Lower Italian Gardens in November 2021, just a stone’s throw from their Mokelumne Hill home.
The couple wanted to create this really wonderful, loving space, Hughart says, and needed a change of pace. After a back injury as a result of a car accident, Hughart found she just couldn’t do the long, hard days she had as a successful full-service wedding planner in her previous business. Instead, the pair would create a unique wedding destination that honors the area’s heritage while offering couples and their families a beautiful, customizable space right here in Calaveras County.
Quartz Hill Estates offers just six all-inclusive weddings a year, with “full planning, DJ, flowers, linens, tablescapes, dinner and lodging,” according to their website. Alternatively, couples can purchase the venue-only option, which includes “accommodation, tables and chairs, access to the farm for 48 hours.”
Accommodation on the 13-acre parcel that makes up Quartz Hill Estates includes two houses. The designated historic building called the “Cook House,” which was once home to the Levezzos and other immigrant Italian farming families, is now a cozy “chicken coop” where the bride can sleep on wooden pallet beds in ” upper barracks. eat breakfast at the large, round dining table amid white walls and dress together in a sunlit back room. Downstairs there is a separate bedroom reserved for the mother of the bride.
The second house, a cozy one-bedroom cabin, is a bridal suite where the happy couple can spend the evening before and after their wedding. Vintage claw foot soaking tubs sit on the covered porch, overlooking the picturesque setting.
The property at 8970 Center Street in Mokelumne Hill is rich with relics of the past, including a 2,400-foot hillside mine shaft with quartz tailings left behind, inspiring the name Quartz Hill Estates. Other remnants of history include planks from a wooden barn, which was torn down in 1998 by then-owner EMCO High Voltage Corp. Salvaged barn wood has been transformed into “real farm tables” for the outdoor seating area, which seats up to 150. guests and has a dance floor, surrounded by a shade structure with lighted curtains.
Hughart and Kuntz have plans to build a replica of the original barn that stood on the hill behind the Cook House, to be used as an indoor reception area at future events. The iconic barn can be seen in historic photos and is commemorated along with other historic features in a mosaic mural currently under construction at Shutter Tree Park.
It was once a stone bakery, built by Italian immigrant Albert Trabucco, who also built what remains intact on a farm across the street. While the oven at the Cook House was dismantled decades ago, it exists record its existence thanks to local historian and archaeologist Julia Costello, who documented it in 1984.
The estate boasts olive, grape and apple trees, along with meadows that double as guest parking lots when the horses aren’t grazing on them.
While much of the surrounding landscape appears untouched, Hughart has planted patches of wildflowers such as poppies, blue cornflowers and daisies, hoping to provide year-round color and beauty for their guests. However, the top of the hill where the ceremony is held gives a 360-degree view of the raw beauty of the land, with wild grass, trees and Butte Mountain in the distance.
Freestanding 11-foot-tall doors imported from Egypt open to the expansive view, reminding couples, “this is what it’s all about…the people who came here to be with you, the commitment you’re making…that you’re here at this hill by the grace of God,” says Hughart.
To inspire guests to reflect on matters of the heart, Hughart added pews salvaged from a church in downtown Valley Springs.
Eventually, an iron-framed “church” will be built on the site, but will have open walls and roofs, more like an art sculpture than an actual building.
“It doesn’t matter what God,” said Hughart, who hopes the setting they’ve provided will help guests disconnect from the stress of planning and instead connect with their loved ones. “We really want to help them with the success of their marriage … to be more in the moment, rather than controlling the moment.”
Hughart also wants her couples to “remember that the way a marriage is successful is from people helping you,” hoping they take the opportunity to “learn to lean on the people who are here to support you.” and perhaps above all. , enjoy making new memories together during their stay.
With its one-year anniversary fast approaching, Quartz Hill Estates is looking to the future. Plans include a few more weddings before the cold weather hits, continued work on landscaping and grounds, the aforementioned barn restoration, and several community events, including a summertime farmers market where visitors can pick wildflowers. their wild ones from the field.
To follow their progress or contact Quartz Hill Estates, visit their website at quartzhillestatesweddings.com or follow on Instagram @Quartz_Hill_Estates.
