Sacramento History Museum, Sacramento, Guia do visitante e o que fazer por perto

The Sacramento History Museum stands at 101 I Street in Old Sacramento, the riverfront district of Sacramento, California. Its brick building is a reproduction of the city's first municipal building, the 1854 City Hall and Waterworks, rebuilt on the original site. It is also a good place to understand why the streets around it sit above an older, buried level of the city.

The story behind it

The original building held the mayor's office, the city waterworks, the police court and the city jail. It did not age well: water tanks on the roof put a strain on the structure, passing trains shook it, and the city condemned it in 1912. It was demolished in 1913, and only a small part of the old jail survived. The museum opened on the site in 1985. Some people say the place is haunted by former inmates, and the museum itself has run paranormal investigations, though that is legend rather than record.

The ground outside has its own story. Sacramento was laid out in 1848 between two rivers, and it flooded badly in the following years, including in January 1850 and again in 1862. The city's answer, from the 1860s and for about two decades, was to raise itself. Buildings were jacked up and the streets filled in beneath them by roughly nine or ten feet. Old ground floors became basements, and some of those spaces survive as the Sacramento Underground. The popular tale of a bustling covered arcade down there is not accurate: businesses walled off their sections and mostly used them for storage.

What to look for

• The brick walls of the museum are a reconstruction, so picture the city hall, waterworks and jail that once stood on this exact spot.
• Notice the doorways, steps and boardwalks around Old Sacramento, which show how the street level was lifted above the original ground.
• The Sacramento River is a short walk away, and standing beside it makes it clear why the early city was so exposed to floods.
• Look for the museum's signs and displays that explain the raising of the streets and the buried level beneath them.

Tips for your visit

• Allow an hour or two inside the museum, and more if you want to add an underground tour. Check current opening hours and tour availability before you go.
• Walking the streets of Old Sacramento is open to everyone, while the museum itself is a separate visit, so check current entry details.
• Go earlier in the day for quieter streets and cooler walking in warm months.
• The California State Railroad Museum and the riverfront are close by, so this stop fits easily into a half day in Old Sacramento.

See it on a quest

The Oz Escape in Sacramento takes you on foot through the area as a longer route. The app tells you about each place as you arrive and sets a puzzle in what is in front of you, so the museum becomes one stop rather than a photo on the way past. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.

Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Sacramento suits a place with a jail and a buried street level in its past. You walk between stops, hear the story of each place as you reach it and solve a puzzle on the spot. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.

Sacramento Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society. is a detective-style walk that passes through the same historic streets. You start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join, and the app explains each place and gives you a puzzle to solve there. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.