Upcoming Events
Gold Rush Days. 2nd Saturday every month 1 – 4 pm
Reserve the second Saturday of every month for Gold Rush Days at Columbia State Historic Park. You’ll get to see inside special exhibits, stores and residences not regularly open to the public. Columbia’s Gold Rush Days is a chance to explore the historic town of Columbia and see it come alive with living history. Throughout town you will discover park docents interpreting what it looked, felt, and sounded like during the California Gold Rush.
Docents in period attire will provide lots of information on the structure of their featured building, nature of its business and equipment, contents of store merchandise, or interior décor of family homes, along with history of the times for visitors. If you’re lucky, the gambling table will be set up on the boardwalk for everyone to try their hand at betting against a mining camp gambler
GOLD TREK LIVING HISTORY PROGRAM March and April
The 4th Grade Gold Trek Living History Program at Columbia State Historic Park consists of a 3-hour program lead by park staff and docents that is meant to replicate the experience that many young men faced as they traveled from Stockton to the gold fields of California in search of gold. Students are provided the opportunity to directly engage in this same experience within the park.
When students arrive at the park, they participate as 
“companies” in an auction where they have the opportunity to spend or save their money, purchase maps, carts, supplies, and shovels, and start on their journey. Along the route to the gold fields, they encounter charlatans, merchants, ferry crossings, and opportunities to make critical decisions that affect their ability to arrive at the gold fields ready to work.
The Gold Trek Living History program is meant to replicate the experience that many gold seekers faced as they traveled from Stockton to the diggings in search of gold.
This program adheres to the state’s curriculum standards and provides an unbeatable opportunity for students to experience first-hand what they’ve learned in the classroom. This program is very popular and reservations are required.
The maximum number of 4th grade students per group is 35 with up to 4 adults.
This program requires a one-hour online pre-lesson with park’s distance learning interpreter. The pre-lesson is offered in January and February to introduce students to the Gold Rush so they will be better prepared for the Gold Trek and can have a more enriching experience. The lesson covers historical Gold Rush history, Columbia’s town history, routes of travel, and information about the trek from the Port of Stockton to Columbia. The lesson is approximately ½ hour long. They will contact you once you are registered to schedule the online lesson.
WAITLIST: If you are unable to make reservations for this program because the timeslot is full, please send an email to columbia.shp@parks.ca.gov with your name, school name, # of students, and phone number to be added to our waitlist. If there are additional spots available or a cancellation, the park will contact you.