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Shasta State Historic Park

15312 Highway 299, Shasta, California 96087 USA

Closed Now

Opens Fri 10a

Independent
Public
Restrooms

“Silent but eloquent reminders”

Six miles west of Redding a row of old, half-ruined, brick buildings remind passing motorists that Shasta City, the lusty "Queen City" of California’s northern mining district, once stood on this site. These ruins and some of the nearby roads, cottages, and cemeteries are all silent but eloquent vestiges of the intense activity that was centered here during the California gold rush. Iron shutters still swing on massive, old, iron hinges before the doors and windows of grass-filled, roofless buildings that once were crowded with merchandise, and alive with the human sounds of business, trade, and social endeavor. The County Courthouse is restored to its 1861 appearance, the year when it was converted from commercial uses to become the Shasta County Courthouse. Today the building is filled with historical exhibits, and an unparalleled collection of historic California Artwork that make it the central figure of Shasta State Historic Park.

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Reviewed by
Lesli Peterson

Blogger
1,138 Reviews
43 Helpful

July 19, 2022

Rated 5.0

Once a bustling mining town during the California Gold Rush of the 1800s, Shasta State Historic Park preserves all of what’s left of Shasta City — weathered red brick buildings vaguely resembling a former business district, known by all the mining region’s motorists passing through via Highway 299.

Slow your engines as you approach this eerie ghost town exhibiting evidence of the past. Informational displays spotlight buildings like a barn house, stagecoach, and the Shasta County Courthouse, one of the few restored buildings from the town’s heyday. Tour inside for a gallery collection of stunning California art donated by Mae Helene Bacon Boggs, spanning a century between 1850 and 1950.

However, don’t expect such a well-curated experience inside each building. Most ruins only give a glimpse at what the structure represented, and archived photos are on display to help you reimagine the city of the past.

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