It’s easy to combine more of a Northern California historical tour with your Yosemite vacation. In the eastern Sierra Nevada, the mining ghost town of Bodie blows in the wind while Manzanar National Historic Site tells the sad story of a WWII-era Japanese American internment camp. Northwest of Yosemite lies the Gold Country, filled with ghost towns and other relics of California’s hurly-burly 19th-century mining days. On the coast, the San Francisco Bay area abound with historical treasures, from military forts and maritime sites to an infamous prison.
Eastern Sierra Nevada
On the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Bodie State Historic Park is among California’s most impressive mining ghost towns. Here everything is preserved in a state of “arrested decay,” which makes it especially photogenic for shutterbugs. Over $100 million dollars worth of gold and silver was extracted here during Bodie’s heyday, roughly from the 1860s through the 1880s.
Bodie is about an hour’s drive northeast of Yosemite National Park’s Tioga Pass entrance station, off U.S. Highway 395. Note that the park’s Tioga Road is usually only open from early June to mid-October.
Over three hours south along U.S. Highway 395, Manzanar National Historic Site is an emotionally moving place to visit. During WWII almost 120,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly interned here in the Owens Valley after being stripped of their civil liberties. A three-mile self-guided driving tour passes by the remains of the internment camp. Inside the modern visitor center, you can peruse in-depth historical displays and watch free documentary films.
California’s Gold Country
With Highway 49 as its main artery, California’s Gold Country runs through the western Sierra Nevada foothills, a short drive north of Yosemite National Park. Several towns along Highway 49 offer more historical sites, museums, and attractions for families and history buffs to explore.
Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park preserves the site where gold was first discovered in California in 1848; here you can try your own hand at panning for gold and inspect a reconstructed mill and pioneer-era cemetery.
In Jamestown, kids and adults alike enjoy riding the narrow-gauge railway at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, where scores of Western movies were filmed, including High Noon (1952) and Unforgiven (1992).
Farther north outside Sonora, Columbia State Historic Park is a partly reconstructed Gold Rush-era town, complete with volunteer docents in mid-19th-century period dress to enliven the atmosphere. Much farther north in Grass Valley, Empire Mine State Historic Park is another beautifully preserved antique gem that was once the biggest and most lucrative gold mine in the Golden State.
San Francisco Bay Area
If you only visit one historical site in San Francisco, consider Alcatraz. Once a lighthouse and U.S. military fort, this island in the middle of San Francisco Bay is famous for being an infamous federal penitentiary, nicknamed “The Rock.” During its 29 years of operation, no one ever escaped from the prison on Alcatraz, whose most famous inmate was gangster Al Capone. In the 1960s, Alcatraz was also the site of political protest and occupation by Native American activists.
Today, it’s part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Boats shuttle visitors from the San Francisco waterfront over to the island, where you can take a self-guided historical tour.
Near Fisherman’s Wharf, the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park harbors a unique collection of 19th-century sailing ships moored off Hyde Street Pier, including the square-rigged ship Balclutha.
