Columbia State Historic Park | Columbia, CA

Around Halloween last year, I went to the city of Columbia for the first time. For those of you who don’t know the geography of California, it’s located about an hour outside of Yosemite. Most of the area is populated with different campgrounds and hiking trails. But more importantly, it’s where the Gold Rush was taking place in the 1850’s. I’m not sure how big of a deal the Gold Rush was for school children outside of California, but it was a major topic during our state history studies in 5th grade. We dressed up, did fake gold panning, churned butter, made candle wax… They really transported us to the 1800’s. Knowing what a big deal the Gold Rush was to California, it made visiting the “Gem of the Southern Mines” and a Gold Rush boomtown that much cooler.

It’s hard to believe that this was really how the towns were built almost 200 years ago. And that Columbia was one of the largest towns in California at the time! The park looked like a movie set I would see in Universal Studios. (It doesn’t surprise me that scenes from Back to the Future III were filmed in the area.) I’ve seen old Western films before, but never really thought, “this was a real thing. America really looked like this.” It’s silly to say, but the old west movies have done a good job because the set designs looked exactly like this historic park. Note: The town has been rebuilt a few times due to fires and deterioration.

We spent a few ours walking through the park and going inside each little store. The staff in these stores are actually dressed up for the time period. It’s a cute place to shop and the stores are real places you can buy from! My favorites were probably the candle store and the candy store. Both have A LOT of goodies inside. Across the street from the candle store, back on the main street, was a place to make your own candles! They were closed for the day when we went, but it would be a fun activity for kids and candle lovers.

The City Hotel is one of a few hotels in the area, however, this is the one located right on Main Street in the park. The woman working at the hotel on this day told us a bit about the history of the hotel while we looked around the rooms. We didn’t know this before, but she said the hotel is haunted and a very popular place for guests to stay the night around Halloween. Lucky us for coming in October. If haunted hotels are something that excites you, the room rates were very reasonable and the bathrooms have been modernized. Almost everything else in the hotel is accurate for that time period.

We didn’t look inside the Fallon Hotel and Theatre. But it’s by the famous Jack Douglas Saloon where you can try sarsaparilla, order dinner, and watch a show before going to bed. This hotel seems larger and had room options from $115 to $50 a night. Hopefully this one isn’t haunted too…

Close to the Columbia State Historic Park is the Moaning Caverns Adventure Park. I have a previous blog post that mentions my visit to the Caverns. I recommend visiting both if you are planning a trip to Colombia or even just driving through with your family.

Happy Halloween! Let me know in the comments if you’re going on any spooky trips this month.

-Ayla♥