Sunny Sacramento: Take a trip down history lane with the city's museums 

From panning gold to getting a 19th century train experience, take a history trip through the city’s most celebrated museums. 
Sunny Sacramento: Take a trip down history lane with the city's museums 

There's plenty of reason to believe why ‘California begins in Sacramento’. A visit to the city can begin anywhere. It can begin with food, for Sacramento is America’s farm to fork capital. It can begin with history, for the gold rush and the beginnings of the state of California itself can be traced back to the city. Or it could  begin like ours did, with a sunny summer lunch aboard the Delta Star boat that overlooks the iconic Tower Bridge. And if you’re looking to walk your lunch off, dare we suggest a visit to these museums, which perfectly encapsulates the spirit of this lively city that still retains its old world charm.

<em>Old Sacramento with Delta King and Boats</em>
Old Sacramento with Delta King and Boats

Parks & recreation @ Sutter’s Fort

If you’re looking for a start to your education of Sacramento’s history, we suggest you begin with Sutter’s Fort. Located in the heart of Midtown Sacramento, Sutter’s Fort was built by John Sutter in the mid-1800s. It is known as a living history museum, for it tells the story of many cultures that inhabited the land, including the Mexican Citizens of Alta California, the emigrating Europeans and American pioneers, and Native Americans. A walk through the many different rooms of the fort (each with its ownaudio narrative), narrates the historyof Sutter’s life as an agriculturalist,his philanthropy and hishospitality, which led many refugees to his door, seeking solace.

<em>Sutter's Fort</em>
Sutter's Fort

Perhaps the most touching amongthe stories, is one of Patty Reed’s wooden doll. In the winter of 1847, it is said that the snow trapped Donner Party, travelled to Sutter’s Fort. Against her mother’s instructions to leave non-essential items behind, eight-year-old Patty (whose real name was Martha), hid Dolly (all of three and three fourths inch long), in her dress and kept Dolly till she died in 1923. Today, it is one of the most prized possessions at the fort.

Visit timings: 10 am to 5 pm daily(Closed on Thanksgiving,Christmas and New Year’s Day).

All that glitters is gold @ Old Sacramento Museum

<em>Old Sacramento</em>
Old Sacramento

Think of California’s history, and what first comes to mind is the gold rush. In 1848, gold was discovered in Sutter’s mill by Coloma by James Marshall – which led to over 300,000 people migrating to the state in search of the shiny metal. A substantial boost in the economy ensued, as plenty of migrants sat on their haunches, often for 10 to 14 hours a day, by the river banks, sifting for gold with their tin pans. If you’re curious to know what that really felt like, asimilar experience is being offered at the Old Sacramento Museum, where you can actually sift for gold, in a trough that stands in for a river bank. That apart, the museum also offers guided tours through old town, where members of the group are assigned “characters”who were quite notorious during the gold rush. Gold panning aside, the tour also offers insights into the turbulent history of Sacramento’s early days, which were rife with contrasts – riches and scarcity, greed and generosity and violence, eventually followed by peace. Sights to see include the underground tours, which offer insight into how the buildings were jacked up to escape flooding (after the floods in the 1860s and 70s). Don’t miss the‘Escape the Sacramento GoldRush’ adventure games that areset in the 1850s Gold Rush era hotelsaloon, which begins on March 22 and goes on till April 14.

Visit timings: 10 am to 5 pm daily(Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s).

Chugging along @ Railroad Museum

Located in the heart of Sacramento, the Railroad Museum is perhaps the most popular museums in the city, with over 200,000 sq feet of exhibit space and 21 carefully restored locomotives and cars, with special exhibits dedicated to California’s railroad and Gold Rush history. Greeting visitors is the first locomotive of the transcontinental railroad, the Govt Stanford, named after one of the ‘bigfour’ builders of the Central Pacific Railroad – Leland Stanford. Visitors are encouraged to climb aboard most of the trains downstairs, but we suggest not missing out on the 1930s vintage train experience, whose dining car still exhibits the china used in the train back then. The Pullman car isrigged to produce the rock and clatter that the train would actually have atnights, to give visitors an actual feel of being on the train. The museum also holds on the first floor, a goldenspike, which has an interesting history.

<em>California State Railroad Museum</em>
California State Railroad Museum

When the railroad tracks werefinally completed, they were joinedtogether by a golden spike in Promontory in Utah. Two spikeswere made for this purpose, and the unused one is on display at this museum. Train aficionados, especially kids, must not miss out on the model toy train displays that span case aftercase, on the first floor.

Visit timings: 10 am to 5 pm daily(Closed on Thanksgiving,Christmas and New Year’s).

Controversy’s children @ Crocker Art Museum

<em>Crocker Art Museum</em>
Crocker Art Museum

Established in 1885 by Edwin Bryant Crocker and his wife Margaret, the Crocker Art Museum was the first public art museum founded in the Western United States. Scandal seemed to have been the Crocker family’s middle name.While Edwin, popularly known as EB or Judge, was a successful and somewhat controversial lawyer who went on to be a part of the big four that founded the Pacific Railroad Company, Margaret was a social activist, philanthropist and civic leader, hailed as ‘one of the most charitable women of California.’ One of their four daughters, Aimee Crocker, was notorious, and known for her five marriages, carousing with Oscar Wilde, throwing extravagant parties and even an affair with a bullfighter. Together, Edwin and Margaret, during their tours of Europe, amassed one of the largest private art collections – over 700 paintings and 1,000 master drawings in addition to numerous other artifacts – housed in their home, renovated to what stands today as the Crocker Art Gallery. Core collections at the gallery include Native American and European art, ceramics and paper art and photography. Watch out for Stephen Kaltenbach’s Portrait of My Father, Wayne Thiebaud’s Pies, Pies, Pies, Thomas Hill’s Great Canyon of the Sierra, Yosemite and Charles Nahl’s Sunday Morning in the Mines.

Visit timings: 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday to Sunday and till 9 pm on Thursdays (Closed on Mondays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s)

Farm to fork!

<em>Old Sacramento</em>
Old Sacramento

The Farm to Fork initiative ismore than just a marketing slogan for the city of Sacramento,which has and continues to be an agricultural power houseof the state. With a focus onlocal, organic produce, the Sacramento region is home to over 1.5 million acres of farmland alone, whose crops yield produce all year round,feeding almost the whole country. The city is also home to one of the largest California Certified Farmers’ Market in the state, with over 40 farmers markets in the region operating on a year-round basis, offering diverse, locally grown produce.

For details, visit: farmtofork.com

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