El Dorado Hills, formerly Clarksville, is the largest community in El Dorado County. Although an incorporated community now, official city status will likely come in the future. El Dorado Hills, (EDH as it is locally known) is alongside of, and is closely associated with, the City of Folsom in Sacramento County. CNN Money Magazine’s ranked EDH one of the best places to live in 2007.

El Dorado Hills was developed in the 1960’s as a master planned community with golf courses, community parks, schools, a community shopping center, commercial centers with open spaces and opportunities for outdoor recreation. EDH has a recently constructed downtown area. The Town Center area is a growing downtown focal point for todays community in addition to a growing business park area. The new town center is a mile or two from the original center of Clarksville.

Originally the El Dorado Hills area was known as Clarksville. The Clarksville Mormon Tavern, its most famous landmark, was a lively and welcomed stopover for many on the way to and from the gold fields in the 1850s. It also was a pony express remount station. The Tavern served as the town center and community gathering place for the many local farmers. The town of Clarksville had 4 hotels and a post office in 1855. After being bypassed by the railroad the town declined but revived somewhat when the Lincoln Highway, the nations first transcontinental highway, was built through Clarksville. Unfortunately the historic Mormon tavern, built about 1849, was raised to make way for the Highway 50 freeway expansion in the early 1960’s destroying most of what was left of Clarksville. Little remains of of original Clarksville but efforts are underway to preserve, celebrate, and reclaim Clarksville’s history. See the Clarksville Region Historical Society.