Hidden Treasure Gold Mine

Columbia State Historic Park is the kind of place where lasting family memories are made. Come in summer or during a special-event weekend, and you'll encounter rumbling stagecoaches, itinerant musicians, bonneted ladies in sweeping skirts and black-hatted characters who could go mano a mano with John Wayne. For city kids who have never before dipped candles, panned for gold or dressed up in 19th-century costume to have a portrait made, this Gold Rush town that never died can be as much fun as Disneyland (well, almost). more »