Believe it or not, the Shasta region was once more populous than it is now; the area was once rich with 19th-century gold miners and all the folks providing goods and services to the miners. Today, the Shasta State Historic Park (Hwy. 299, 530/243-8194, www.parks.ca.gov [1], Wed.–Sun. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.) displays and honors that regional history.
Two on-site museums, the Litsch Store Museum and the Courthouse Museum, allow history buffs to dig deeper into the life and times of early Shasta residents. See everything from an extensive collection of California landscape paintings to the original area gallows.
Outdoors, you’ll get the chance to wander through the remains of historic cottages and read the human history of Shasta through the grave markers in the cemeteries.
Links:
[1] http://www.parks.ca.gov