Shasta, referred to as Old Shasta, is an unincorporated community in Shasta County A bustling town of the 1850s through the 1880s, Shasta was for its time, the largest settlement in Shasta County and the surrounding area. Old Shasta was an important commercial center and a major shipping point for mule trains and stagecoaches serving the mining towns and later settlements of northern California. When gold was discovered near Shasta in 1849, it brought California Gold Rush searchers to the Shasta area, and then many continued to use the town of Shasta it as base of operations.
The site of Old Shasta is now Shasta State Historic Park, which contains many of the original 1850s-era brick buildings. Shasta is now a town of 750 people with the ruins of the gold mining town, a post office, a church, an elementary school, the oldest Masonic lodge in California, and a store.
Just outside of Redding, about six miles, you will see a row of half-ruined, brick buildings that are reminders that Shasta City, was the “Queen City” of California’s northern mining district, once stood on this site. All of the ruins are all silent reminders of the intense activity that was centeredin Shasta during the California gold rush.There are roofless retail buildings that were once crowded with merchandise, and alive with the human sounds of business, trade, and social.
The County Courthouse, was restored to the way it looked in 1861 when it was converted to a Courthouse. Extrodinary historical exhibits, and a collection of historic California Artwork fill the building making it the central figure of Shasta State Historic Park.
This is another of the wonderful historic sites to visit along with, natural wonders and the great outdoor recreation in the historic Redding/Shasta area.
