Virtual field trips to California history places are a blast. You can go anywhere for free. They’re fun to plan and document and – who knows – one day you might actually get there.

Decide where to go.

Let California State Parks be your travel guide to Native American places, missions, ghost towns, historic ships and hundreds of historic spots.

 

State Parks Office of Historic Preservation lists places you can visit.

http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21387

It’s OHP’s job to preserve, protect, and honor California’s cultural, historical, and archaeological resources. It lists places in every county where historic events happened, says where to find them and installs a plaque on the actual spot. What historic spots are closest to where you live?

If you can drive around to find them, that’s like going on a California history treasure hunt.

#1 is the Custom House in Monterey, where Commodore John Sloat raised the United States flag on July 7, 1846 to signal the start of American rule. Today the Custom House is part of Monterey State Historic Park.

California has 52 State Historic Parks.

They range from Old Town San Diego to Chumash Painted Caves to Watts Towers to Bodie, a ghost town, and Fort Ross.

Where would you like to go first?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_State_Historic_Park

How to make a virtual field trip.

• Measure the distance, round trip, from home to your destination.
• Write the directions to get there and describe what you’ll see along the way.
• Research why this place is historic and explain what you expect to see there.
• Write a review of your virtual field trip, like on Yelp or Trip Advisor, including why you do or don’t recommend it.
• Create a travel brochure or produce a video journal or PowerPoint of your California history field trip.
• Post your review, brochure, video journal or PowerPoint on our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/ThisweekinCaliforniaHistory/