Shasta Real Estate

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 for mule trains and stagecoaches serving the mining towns and later the settlements of Northern California. The discovery of gold near Shasta in 1849 brought California Gold Rush Forty-Niners up the Siskiyou Trail and most passed through Shasta, and then they continued to use it as base of operations.

The site of Old Shasta is now Shasta State Historic Park, containing the original 1850s-era brick buildings. Shasta is now a town of 750 people living with the ruins of the gold mining town, a post office, the oldest Masonic lodge in California, a church, an elementary school, and a store.

Six miles west of Redding a row of old, half-ruined, brick buildings remind passing motorists that Shasta City, the lusty “Queen City” of California’s northern mining district, once stood on this site. These ruins and some of the nearby roads, cottages, and cemeteries are all silent reminders of the intense activity that was centered in Shasta during the gold rush.There are roofless commericial buildings that were once crowded with merchandise, and alive with the human sounds of business, trade, and social activities.

A few years ago the County Courthouse was restored to its 1861 appearance. Today the building is filled with historical exhibits, and an unparalleled collection of historic California Artwork that make it the central figure of Shasta State Historic Park.

This but another of the wonder sites to visit while you are in the historic Redding/Shasta area of Northern California.