• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

California Through My Lens

California Travel, Food, Hiking & Road Trips

  • Start Here
  • Explore
    • Beaches
    • Bizarre
    • Caves
    • Food
    • Hikes
    • Historical Structures
    • Natural Wonders
    • Waterfalls
  • Drive
    • El Camino Real
    • Highway 395
    • LA to Las Vegas
    • Pacific Coast Highway
    • Route 66
  • National Parks
    • Channel Islands
    • Death Valley
    • Joshua Tree
    • Lassen Volcanic
    • Pinnacles
    • Redwoods
    • Sequoia & Kings Canyon
    • Yosemite
  • Cities
    • Los Angeles
    • Palm Springs
    • Sacramento
    • San Diego
    • San Francisco
  • Resources
    • Day Trip Ideas
    • Road Trip eBooks
    • Hotels
    • My Favorite Travel Products
    • Travel Videos
  • Browse By …
    • Map Of Locations
    • Cities
    • Counties
    • National Parks
    • State Parks

Shasta State Historic Park: A Ghost Town Near Redding

Last Modified: October 6, 2020

27shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

Located less than 5 miles from Redding city center, Shasta Ghost Town is the unique remains of one of California’s busiest towns during the gold rush of the mid 1800s. The town is now a state historic park, and it is literally on the highway that you would take to get to Whiskeytown Recreation Area. It is an easy stop; you just pull off to the side and park along the road. Because of this, it is an excellent recommendation for a place to spend 20 minutes or half a day.

Details

  • Cost: Free
  • Location: 15312 CA-299, Redding, CA 96003

Getting There

Shasta State historic park is located 15 minutes from Redding on Highway 299. The park itself right not he highway as you drive right through it. There is parking on both sides of the road if you want to get out and explore.

The Park

The state park now has around a dozen or so buildings dating back to the 1800s, and there are information plaques along the way that will tell you more about each of them. Most of the remaining buildings were built from brick because the city had two major fires that burned down many of the businesses and the owners decided that brick buildings would be the best way to prevent that. The town eventually met its decline when the railroad decided to stop in Redding instead of Shasta, forcing many of the business owners to move in order to stay afloat.

History

 A bustling town from the 1850s through the 1880s, Shasta was for its time, the most significant settlement in Shasta County and the surrounding area. Sometimes referred to today as “Old Shasta,” the town was an important commercial center and a major shipping point for mule trains and stagecoaches serving the mining towns and later settlements of northern California. The discovery of gold near Shasta in 1849 brought California Gold Rush-era Forty-Niners up the Siskiyou Trail in search of riches – most passed through Shasta and continued to use it as a base of operations. 

Situated about six miles (10 km) west of Redding, California along Highway 299, Shasta was once home to some 3,500 residents and a thriving commercial district. However, in the mid-1880s, the newly-constructed Central Pacific Railroad bypassed Shasta, in favor of Redding and the town declined into “ghost town” status.

The Town

The town has everything from a blacksmith’s shop to a brewery, but some of the standout parts for me were the old remains of the central city walkway. While not a lot of it remains, you can walk in and out of the shops and see the broken-down walls to picture what it would have looked like in its heyday.

Across the street, there is also a beautiful old barn that was built in the mid-1800s and moved to the spot it is in now. It also has a stagecoach and some other farming tools there.

Right next to the barn is a set of picnic benches if you want to have a leisurely lunch with your family.

Next to that is also the oldest mason building in the United States. Even though it is not technically part of the park, it is still a beautiful building to see.

If you are looking to explore a little more, you can take the ruins trail, which goes above and behind the brick buildings and gives you a different perspective. It also allows you to see the devastation of the Carr Fire in 2018 that came through the area.

As you finish your time, you can also explore a few of the cemeteries they have outside of the town, or you can see the grave of the Pioneer baby. Which has it’s own unique story you can read in the description.

What’s cool about this park is you can see all it has to offer in less than 30 minutes, but you can also spend all day if you are a history buff. It has a lot of beautifully restored vintage buildings to interact with, and for historians of that time period, there is a lot of history to uncover here.

Filed Under: Haunted, Museums, Northern California, State Parks Tagged With: featured, Shasta City, Shasta County

Interested in supporting this blog?

This blog is simply a hobby and labor of love for me. If you have enjoyed the posts consider sharing it with your friends. I want as many people as possible to explore this state and you can help by letting them know about all of the great spots!

Join the Newsletter

Subscribe for the four day welcome series and to get the latest content every month.

    We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

    About JoshMc

    Thanks for checking out the blog, I am happy to be sharing my adventures with you! You can get to know me by reading my about me, which includes a video and additional information on the site, myself and my full disclosure. Also, follow along on Twitter here or read all of my posts on this blog here.

    Primary Sidebar

    About

    Josh from California Through My Lens I'm a travel junkie strapped down to one state, focused on seeing as much of it as I can and encouraging others to do the same. More about me.

    Popular Posts

    The Big List of Strange, Fun & Unique Attractions in Southern California
    Pacific Coast Highway: Where to Stop on Your Road Trip
    Top Hiking Trails in Southern California
    Fun Stops on the Drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas
    24 Things to do in Downtown LA
    17 Things to do in Lake Tahoe
    Donner Pass, Summit Tunnel Hike: Old Abandoned Railroad

    Categories

    Other Resources


    Footer

    Search the site

    Additional Information

    Privacy Policy

    About Us

    Copyright © 2021 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Coronavirus January 2021 Update: Please note that some information in the posts may have changed and some places may be closed.