Capital Cities Tour: Discover Sacramento, California

Sacramento, California's beautiful capital city at the junction of the American and Sacramento Rivers is disarmingly deceptive. Tranquil boulevards lined with gracious Victorian homes shaded by leafy old trees, charming neighborhoods, and river parks mask a mercantile metropolis and political hotbed that thrive below the surface. The capital city of the largest state in the union, by population, and the third largest state by area, Sacramento is like a sweet-tempered, smartly dressed matriarch of undisclosed wealth and power.

Things to See in Sacramento:

• State Capitol

The California State Capitol was constructed and furnished between 1860 and 1874 during a period of US cultural history known as the American Renaissance, a time when artists, artisans, architects, craftsmen, and philanthropists set out to equal or exceed the greatest achievements of preceding civilizations. Its pristine white architecture looks like something straight out of the Holy Roman Empire. Eight Roman Corinthian columns on the front portico lead the eye to the elaborate rooftop sculptures, beyond the shining copper dome punctuated by a glittering 30 inch gold ball set against a clear, Sacramento sky. Inside, are beautifully restored massive wooden doors, magnificently carved stairways and a fabulous Carrara marble statue of Queen Isabella and Christopher Columbus. Other features include a circular room of murals depicting early California life, and furnished rooms of the restored turn-of-the-century Governor's office, Secretary of State's office, and Treasurer's office. The Secretary of State's office has old files stacked up and tied in red ribbon, showing the origins of the governmental term "Red Tape." The Senate is decorated in red as in the British House of Lords, while the Assembly is green, as in the House of Commons, and both chairs for each head of the chambers are symbolic of the British monarchy—themes borrowed from the British Parliament from which the United States bases its two-house system.

Tip: Grab a meal at the statehouse restaurant located in the basement. Warm red brick walls, arches and the cool cellar atmosphere give the ambience of an Italian grotto. Note the walls and arches made from old bricks retrieved during the massive 1970s restoration when the building was, as the tour guide says, "carved out like a melon," then recreated to its original beauty, based on old photos and furnishings found in storage. Notice the old pictures on the restaurant walls, particularly the photo of the "Insectuary," a building dedicated to "breeding beneficial insects" affectionately called the "Bug House."

Check it out . . . Take a walk through the 40-acre Capitol Park and enjoy the sweet scent of rose gardens and over 400 exotic plants and trees from all over the world. Two intriguing 20th century war memorials are also on the grounds. The Vietnam War Memorial has many sculptures of men in battle, and a rare sculpture of POW's. The plaque reads: "To the memory of those who died or remain missing."

• Old Sacramento

Old Sacramento is an old Western town encompassing ten blocks with two main streets flanked by wood plank sidewalks. Plenty of side streets loaded with two- and three-story picturesque buildings from the Gold Rush days make a fascinating walking tour. Listen to echo of shoe heels clapping along the wooden sidewalks, as pedestrians stroll past shops and restaurants that once housed rowdy barrooms and gambling halls during the heyday of the 1849 Gold Rush. Today the smell of grilled steaks and homemade candy fills the air, competing with the sounds of nearby trains and laughing children carrying gigantic pinwheel lollipops of rainbow hues. The restored 1876 Central Pacific Railroad Station is in the center of town and the California State Railroad Museum nearby houses more than 20 restored locomotives and passenger cars.

• Downtown Plaza

A pedestrian tunnel from Old Sacramento leads visitors to Downtown Plaza, a modern mall complex with an open-air market, a megaplex cinema, specialty stores, clothing stores, ethnic restaurants and minstrels from all walks of life: peripatetic musicians, jugglers, mimes and other street performers entertain shoppers and diners. A recently restored Art Deco vaudeville theater several blocks east shows independent and foreign films.

• Sutter's Fort State Park

In 1839 while California was still under the Mexican flag, Captain John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant received a 50,000-acre land grant at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers. Nine years later, while building a sawmill, Sutter's partner, John Marshall, saw gold shining through the river. Walking back to his workmen, he remarked, in possibly the understatement of the century, "Boys, I believe I found a gold mine." But when Sutter heard the report, he feared ruination for his mill businesses. His fears were not unfounded. The scent of easy money attracted thousands of desperate people who flooded the new American territory, launching one of the greatest gold rushes in history, and establishing a new city, Sacramento, to serve the influx of prospectors. As Sutter suspected, mill workers deserted their jobs in search of gold, while invading goldseekers tore Sutter's fences to build ramshackle housing on his land. Both Sutter and Marshall died penniless. Sutter later wrote, "By the sudden discovery of gold, all my great plans were destroyed . . . I should have been the richest citizen on the Pacific . . . Instead of being rich, I am ruined."

The state park is the site of the first white settlerment in this region. An 1839 adobe structure, faithfully reconstructed, now houses mementoes from the pioneer period and the Gold Rush era. (The original gold nugget Marshall found is now at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.)

STATE TOURIST INFORMATION: (800) 862-2543

Priscilla Faith Rhodes is the author of DISCOVER AMERICA DIARIES: 50 STATES, 50 STATES OF MIND, and co-publisher of the award-winning website, Postcards from America, http://www.postcardsfrom.com, a edu-travel site that helps students and families learn about America through postcards.