Located inside The Placer County Courthouse building, this museum houses some of the historic…read moreartifacts from the early Nisenan inhabitants. It also includes the Pate Collection of American Indian artifacts and the original Thomas Kinkade painting "Auburn Centennial". The Placer County Gold Collection is also on exhibit here. Free admission and located on the first floor. Second floor is an active superior courthouse. We had a great time exploring this museum.

Gone day tripping to check this out. Found myself confused as we went thru metal detector and…read moresecurity entrance. It was a small room museum and a part of the lobby you can look into inside a courthouse. It is rich in local history. There were artifacts on judges clothings, native Americans history, jail cell and reward system. Medicine and Nursing related technology evolution. There were lots of information to read on along each possible spot. Good museum if you are killing time, not much enjoyable for small kids other than the pretend jail prisoner props you can use for picture taking and the phone code transmission you can try. Free museum.

Awesome tour with such wonderful knowledgeable guides! So much history here. Daisy and the…read morewonderful lady who did our tour (forgot her name) were so wonderful in sharing all the special moments in the house and all the history. We really enjoyed our visit here and learning about the family and the home.

We only did the tour of the house but it was amazing. The two tour guides were so knowledgeable and…read morefriendly. The house is a replica of exactly what it would have looked like back in the day. There were so many special things to see in there including art from unusual materials, a wedding dress and a kitchen with old fashioned "appliances." My 5 year old was enthralled and it was short enough that she didn't surpass her attention span. The guides were truly incredible and the highlight of the experience. You can tell they care about preserving the history of it all.

What an incredible talent and place. Staff is always so welcoming and informative. Where you are…read morebuying or just browsing, everyone is treated beautifully and every inch of the place is a feast for your soul

Beyond amazing. I've seen the Dave McCoy statue and the giant Willy Mammoth statue at Mammoth ski…read morearea. Van Howd made Both ! ! He made 2 Ronald Reagan statues. One is in the capital in Sacramento and many bigger than life statues of African game animals. Worth visiting if in Auburn.

We were invited to a birthday party at the Placer Nature Center. This was the first time we've…read moreever been or even heard of it. It was super easy to find. Parking was easy. The party was such a great idea. Something different. And it was a beautiful day to be outdoors. We were able to look around different rooms filled with all different things from water animals, local animals, even dinosaurs!!!! Then we went on a nature walk with scavenger hunt. Everyone was engaged and having fun! Then the kids got to check out the pond....and catch tadpoles! So fun. My daughter had such a good time, she didn't want to leave.

We absolutely love bringing our toddler here and enjoy all that they have to offer. There are a lot…read moreof extremely dated/run down aspects of it that I do wish they would update but overall a wonderful day out with awesome staff

From my separate City of Auburn review:…read more Auburn is an attractive city, especially Old Town Auburn, which attracts passersby on the highway between Reno and Sacramento with the quaint architecture on a hill flanked by a giant sculpture. Its small-town charm is likely why movies like Rocky and Bullwinkle, Breakdown, Wisdom, and xXx had scenes shot here, but the town relates most to the 1996 John Travolta movie Phinome Phenomin Phenomm Look Who's Talking. The guy who discovered gold here in 1849 was memorialized by Ken Fox with a 45-ton concrete (rebar and wire mesh) statue at the entrance of Old Town. Ken Fox was a dentist able to do this in between teeth cleanings and forcing customers to look at super close-up pictures of their teeth in order to sell "special deep teeth cleaning" by the quadrant. This dentist has more "Great Statues" in the area which you'd likely find ful-"filling". Get it? Anyway, it's right off the highway, so stop there and check out Old Town. (Check my reviews on Edelweis 2 and the California Club)

Quality/Quantity - What a cool active town, see pictures…read more(and/or their website) of some current events. This might be our new pit stop...? Or a designated location? We usually go to downtown Auburn, so I am glad we came to Old Town this time. Atmosphere - Cool historic town. Lots of locally owned shops. Plenty of places to eat. Walk friendly but not sure if ADA friendly. Dog friendly, at least at the brewery. :) Service - Good, everyone we met was friendly. Price - Depends on where you shop, eat, and drink. Owner Comment - What a great fun town, looking forward to coming back soon when I have more time.

Brought my daughter here and we both loved it. The staff were super friendly and really into what…read morethey do -- u can tell they care about keeping history alive. The train ride was calm, scenic, and honestly just fun to experience together. The museum itself has some amazing old cars and engines, all restored beautifully. It's got that perfect nostalgic vibe but still feels fresh and hands-on for kids. Such a great spot to spend an afternoon -- highly recommend it for families or anyone who just loves classic trains.

We had such an amazing time here! While we didn't come on the weekend, so the shop was closed, that…read moredidn't ruin our time in the slightest. The worker Brian, showed us around the museum and was truly excellent. He was so helpful and kind and obviously very knowledgeable about the railroad. He engaged the kids by asking lots of questions and kept us all entertained. This museum teaches you a lot and isn't boring like a lot of others are. I'd definently recommend!

Looks like it would be a nice place for a picnic and a short hike. Nice open space. The quarry…read moreitself isn't much to see. 105 degrees Fahrenheit late June 2020.

I'm sure the park is probably closed after sunset, but I've come out here a few times to watch…read moremeteor showers and/or just to have some mischievousness fun after dark! There's quite a few walking trails, some granite ruins/walls, and a pretty big open grass area for picnics and what not! I think they do some sort of free tours on the weekends, but I'm not sure what really goes on for those. If you have offspring, this is probably a pretty cool spot to take the kids out and wear them down! If you decide to come out after dark, don't forget your flashlight, at night the walking trails seem to send you in circles, which is always fun if your with someone who scares easily!

Bookmarked this museum years ago, but it sat in my bucket list for a while. As someone who's…read moreinterested in California's Gold Rush history, and Chinese-American history, this museum is a very cool landmark place to visit. Unfortunately, the museum wasn't open on the day we visited, so only got to see the outside. May come back in the future when we head this way again. Located on Sacramento and Brewery Lane.

Great little Chinese heritage left behind by hard working Chinese Americans who gave up their lives…read morein China and worked laboriously in the Wild West. If you are interested in Gold Rush stories, this is a cute house to visit and see traces of Chinese immigrants and their daily lives there.

My friend and I were strolling around Old Town Auburn when we saw this very grand building on top…read moreof the hill. We both wondered if that's their City Hall... Convinced that it probably is (it's not), we decided to hike up the hill to take a closer look only to realize as we hiked up that it was a lot farther away. Also we were surprised at the very steep hills here. So we made the decision to walk back down toward the center of Old Town and drove the parked car up to what we now realized is the Historic Courthouse. Built in 1898, it is now also the site of the current Placer County Superior Court (2nd floor) and The Placer County Museum which is located on the 1st floor. Of note, there's a Placer County women's jail (exhibit) which is a makeshift cell underneath the north staircase that was put here in 1905 due to it being too expensive to house women prisoners in local hotels and too dangerous to house them with men in the main jail. Located on Maple Street and Union Street.

One thing you have to do while in the area is check out this courthouse, which has a lot of…read morephotographic appeal, and there's even a museum you can view for free. The top part is where official things are done, so you will have to go through security to get into the building. This wasn't a big deal, though.