The so-called ‘Gem of the Southern Mines’ is like a miniature Gold Rush Disneyland, but with more authenticity and heart. Four blocks of town have been preserved, where volunteers perambulate in 19th-century dress and demonstrate gold panning. The blacksmith’s shop, theater, hotels and saloon are all carefully framed windows into California’s past. The yesteryear illusion of Main St is shaken only a bit by fudge shops and the occasional banjo-picker or play-acting forty-niner whose cell phone rings.
Columbia State Historic Park
Gold Country
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park
29.95 MILES
Two miles southwest of Volcano, this sacred area for the local Miwok comprises a museum in a traditional wooden roundhouse, a village site, a limestone…
Calaveras Big Trees State Park
18.99 MILES
Home to giant sequoia trees that reach as high as 250ft with trunk diameters of over 25ft, these leftovers from the Mesozoic era are thought to weigh…
Railtown 1897 State Historic Park
5.53 MILES
Five blocks east of Jamestown’s Main St, this 26-acre collection of trains and railroad equipment is the photogenic sister to Sacramento's rail museum. It…
3.6 MILES
In the former 1857 Tuolumne County Jail, you'll find this great little museum with a fortune’s worth of gold on display in the form of nuggets and gold…
California Cavern State Historic Landmark
13.63 MILES
California Cavern has the mother lode’s most extensive system of natural underground caverns. Regular tours take 60 to 80 minutes, or get a group together…
6.93 MILES
The unusually family-friendly atmosphere makes the wine feel secondary at Ironstone. There’s a natural spring waterfall, a mechanical pipe organ, frequent…
24.77 MILES
The somewhat undiscovered settlement of Mokelumne Hill is 7 miles south of Jackson just off Hwy 49. Settled by French trappers in the early 1840s, it’s a…
25.77 MILES
About 15 miles east of Groveland, in the Stanislaus National Forest, Rainbow Pool is a popular swimming hole with a small cascade; it's signed on the…
Nearby Gold Country attractions
0.03 MILES
Looking rather like dinosaur bones, limestone and granite boulders are noticeable around town. These were washed out of the surrounding hills by hydraulic…
3.6 MILES
In the former 1857 Tuolumne County Jail, you'll find this great little museum with a fortune’s worth of gold on display in the form of nuggets and gold…
3. Railtown 1897 State Historic Park
5.53 MILES
Five blocks east of Jamestown’s Main St, this 26-acre collection of trains and railroad equipment is the photogenic sister to Sacramento's rail museum. It…
6.93 MILES
The unusually family-friendly atmosphere makes the wine feel secondary at Ironstone. There’s a natural spring waterfall, a mechanical pipe organ, frequent…
7.84 MILES
This family run winery pours the juicy red varietals that made them famous in their lively tasting lounge. At times, the place feels like the community…
7.91 MILES
In downtown Murphys, start wine tasting at Tanner, whose family was the first to plant grapes and pay an alcohol tax in Calaveras County during the 1860s.
7.93 MILES
Don't miss the Rhône red blend at Twisted Oak's tasting room in downtown Murphys.
7.95 MILES
The name is a good hint that this place approaches history with a humorous touch. Housed in an 1856 building, it has an inscrutable tintype of the outlaw…