Eureka, Eureka!
[I’ve found it]
Attributed, probably incorrectly, to Archimedes
However much you plan a trip there will be some moments and places you didn’t expect. Places that weren’t on your itinerary but catch your eye, or simply provide a convenient pitstop. Places that delight you all the more because you expected little of them. Such serendipity is one of the joys of travelling.
On our recent California trip, Eureka was such a place. We stopped here mainly to break one of the longer driving days, but also to provide a bit of variety in a trip that was predominantly about the landscapes of California and in my near-constant pursuit of good coffee! And what an appropriate name this is for a city that delivered several lovely surprises. Let me take you on a short Monday Walk around town.
Fort Humboldt
Before driving right into town we stopped on the outskirts at Fort Humboldt State Park. This was the site of an historic military fort, overlooking Humboldt Bay, which was established here in 1853. It is most famous for being for a short period home to a young Captain Ulysses S. Grant.
Only one of the original buildings remains intact, the hospital, but a few others have been reconstructed, most notably the Surgeon’s Quarters. I was disappointed not to be able to go inside this (I later read that it is not currently open to the public but there are plans to establish it as a period house museum in due course). However, we enjoyed following the short trail around the fort. This gives a very honest account of the impact of colonialisation in what were (and still are) the ancestral lands of the native Wiyot people. The state park website explains:
Sharing only the military piece of the Fort Humboldt history would not come close to capturing all that this place, and this historical period represents. This would lead to an unbalanced perspective of Fort Humboldt’s role in this area’s development. The inclusion of California Native Americans’ lived experiences in this story acknowledges how this historic site represents a painful reminder of that history to their descendants. By sharing the complete story of Fort Humboldt, it is our hope that this will provide healing support to the ongoing cultural revitalization being undertaken by many of the area’s Indigenous people and their communities.
The trail also led us past an open-air display of historic 19th-mid 20th century logging equipment, showing how this evolved from early steam donkeys to more powerful locomotives which enabled the transport of increasingly large loads of timber and precipitated the deforestation of significant areas of land in this region.
Street art
After visiting Fort Humboldt we followed signs to the Old Town which my guidebook indicated would be a good bet for a coffee stop. What the book didn’t mention however was that Eureka’s Old Town is a fantastic place to find street art, with some impressive large murals. We were distracted in our search for coffee by my desire to find and photograph some of the best, so wandered around several streets in the vicinity of where we had parked. I think Natalie will enjoy seeing what we found for her Photographing Public Art challenge.
The waterfront
As I mentioned, we had quite a long drive ahead of us on this particular day, but we couldn’t turn away from the coast (which we wouldn’t see again on this trip) without a stroll along Eureka’s waterfront. There were lovely views of a marina and offshore islands, and an interesting display of banners on the lampposts honouring locals who had served in the military and coastguard services. The bonus was the sight of a seal swimming some distance away, just close enough to be captured with my zoom lens!
And that coffee!
The guidebook was right about the coffee! There are several independent coffee shops here and we loved the one we chose, Old Town Coffee and Chocolates, just a block from the waterfront. In addition to decent coffee, we enjoyed the quirky décor here, just what we needed to set us up for the drive inland to our next stop, Weaverville. But that must wait until my next Monday Walk …
I visited Eureka in September 2024
39 Comments
Jane Lurie
This is an interesting area to visit. You’ve found some great scenes, Sarah. They’ve been hit with some severe earthquakes recently. Even had some tsunami warnings all the way down the coast, but were canceled soon after.
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, we saw the news about the earthquakes and tsunami warnings, and were glad to read that no one was badly hurt.
Annie Berger
Lovely shots of the fort and the murals or street art you found while on the hunt for coffee to get you through the rest of the day, Sarah. Glad Eureka lived up to its name for you and Chris.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Annie, I’m pleased you enjoyed these shots 🙂
grandmisadventures
I love when somewhere unexpected turns out to be such a gem of a place! Eureka certainly looks like it fits that bill 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
I’d have liked to have stayed longer – it struck me it would have been a good option for an overnight stop, maybe better than Ferndale as although we liked the town, the eating options were very limited.
the eternal traveller
A lucky find and nice to have a decent coffee too.
Sarah Wilkie
Absolutely – thank you for stopping by 🙂
Teresa
That was a long wait to get that decent coffee. Anyway so many interesting places you passed by. And those murals, especially the one of Performing Arts is amazing.
Sarah Wilkie
Oh, I wouldn’t want to give the impression I’d gone a long while without a decent coffee Teresa! We were pleasantly surprised on this trip to find some nice independent coffee shops even in some more rural inland areas. And on this particular day we’d had breakfast just a few hours earlier in a nice one in Ferndale 😀 But there’s always room in my life for more coffee!
Image Earth Travel
Not sure if you received my comment? It seemed to time out… 🙁
Sarah Wilkie
I did – see below 🙂 I’m having problems with comments on my posts, frustratingly. When I comment myself, and when some other people do, it appears to hang at the ‘submitting comment’ stage. The comment works, you can check it by refreshing the page, but you don’t see it unless you do that. I reported it back in mid September and Jetpack’s happiness engineers keep telling me they’re working on fixing it but so far without success 🙁
Image Earth Travel
ah, the old “we’re working on it” excuse. I’ve had 10 years of WP’s excuses but I’m in too deep to change.
Sarah Wilkie
In fairness this is Jetpack not WP, but I take your point!
Image Earth Travel
True but WP uses Jetpack as a default, so it can’t shirk its support. I remember when the “amp” plugin was enabled by default on all WP plans then WP decided to no longer use this default plugin. However, it left behind legacy “amp” broken links that Google Search Console keeps flagging and not great for a site. Support told me to install a Redirect plugin, which may take up to a year to get rid of these legacy issues. 🙁
Sarah Wilkie
That’s certainly not ideal, and it’s not the first time WP has messed people around for sure!
Image Earth Travel
I’m yet to visit California, but your photos do the State justice.
Planning a trip? I rarely do that and leave everything up to chance. I’m lucky that I have a partner who delights in all the travel logistics as I never used to travel this way! 😉
Sarah Wilkie
We’re the other way around – I enjoy the planning while my husband is happy on the whole to just turn up and engage with whatever I planned (within reason!) We used to leave at least some parts of these trips to chance, without pre-booking accommodation for each night, but when I started to research this one I found hotels etc. in the popular areas booking up months in advance and those in less popular areas very thin on the ground so we needed to commit 🙂
thehungrytravellers.blog
Love those California coastal towns, just another aspect of that fabulous state.
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, there is so much variety across the state, and so much to see in addition to the well-known ‘big hitters’, and this is a good example of that!
Rose
Love that Fort Humboldt offered a First Nation’s perspective. Many of our state parks are doing the same. And that street art, wow!
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, I was impressed when I read that Fort Humboldt was offering that more rounded view of the past, it was one reason we decided to visit 🙂
Anonymous
I always enjoy the small museums and places where there is just enough information about the history – not so much as to be overwhelming like the big museums but enough to reward a short span of concentrated interest. I have never been lucky enough to get to Eureka – the trip I planned to go in that direction in 1966 was derailed by Bob buying a car and spending that two weeks restoring it.
Rosalie
Sarah Wilkie
Ah yes, I remember you mentioned Bob’s car restoration spoiling those plans – what a shame Rosalie! I agree about smaller museums. It’s easier to take in the info and they often have a very local focus which means you’re learning about things you won’t have come across anywhere else 🙂
Sue
Well, it would seem Eureka by nam3 and by nature! Loved th street art
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, absolutely! Thank you Sue 😀
margaret21
What a serendipitous time you had! Fort Humbodt looks worth a diversion, and all the rest of your finds. And I’ve learnt while travelling to have a couple of books ready to swap for those moments when we run into a book exchange opportunity of some kind. Serendipity rules!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Margaret – serendipity rules indeed 😀 Unfortunately I rely on Kindle for books when travelling (so much less to carry!) and that doesn’t work with book swaps.
margaret21
I’ve never learnt to embrace the Kindle. I bring books I can dispose of as I finish them. I can usually find a positive way of passing them on.
lisaonthebeach
Oh my what a beautiful little town! Back in 2018 we took a road trip down Highway 1 from Depot Bay, Oregon to San Francisco. We totally enjoyed short stops along the way not knowing what we’d find. We did a similar drive up Highway 1 from San Diego the next year. I’d like to do it again! So many beautiful places to explore along the way! and PS. love the street art and coffee shop! (I also love coffee shops!)
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Lisa 😊 As I mentioned to Anne below, the outskirts of Eureka are very unremarkable but this downtown area is a gem and well worth stopping off in if ever you do find yourself in this area again.
Natalie
The murals are all beautiful, Sarah. I particularly like the flower and the Performing Arts murals. The coffee shop with the little free library looks good, too. Thank you for your PPAC contribution.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Natalie – yes, I loved that flower and also the Mandarin duck 🙂 Always happy to join in with PPAC!
Amy
I really enjoy these street arts! A beautiful collection, Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Amy, I’m glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Anne Sandler
Lovely photographs of your Eureka visit. We were there on a camping trip when our boys were young; so I’m sure things have changed quite a bit. That’s if I can remember how things were!!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Anne 🙂 Yes, I guess like most places it’s changed a lot. The outskirts were a very dull sprawl of fast food restaurants, hypermarkets etc., but the downtown has clearly had some love and attention in recent years.
restlessjo
Who knew, Sarah? With a name like Eureka… I didn’t read all of the information relating to resettlement, but it was a strange point of view that you could just turn up and declare somewhere yours, irrespective of who might be living there. And yet it was the norm for so many years! I was glad to turn my attention to the lovely street art. Thanks again, for sharing!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Jo 🙂 I was glad that the displays at Fort Humboldt went some way towards acknowledging the mistakes of the past and recognising the original owners of this land, descendants of whom still live in and around Eureka.