5 Best Sights in Eureka, The North Coast

Its lead artisan's star turn on the cable-TV series The Craftsman has brought welcome attention to this woodshop specializing in Victorian-era architecture. The craftspeople here use antique tools—printing presses and lathes among them—to create gingerbread trim, fence pickets, and other Victorian embellishments. Visitors on guided and self-guided tours can watch the workers in action.

Stroll 100 feet above the forest floor on California's oldest zoo's aerial walkway through old-growth and newer redwoods. Favorite wildlife viewing areas back on the ground include a walk-in aviary. A bear and coyote exhibit was set to open during 2023.

The Native American wing of this museum contains a beautiful collection of northwestern California basketry. Artifacts from Eureka's Victorian, logging, and maritime eras fill the rest of the space.

Dick Taylor specializes in small-batch dark chocolates made with beans from Africa and Central America. His factory store's on-site café serves dense European-style "drinking chocolates," along with hot chocolates, addictive fudge pops, and other delights. Book a tour (with tasting) through the company's website.

The town of Ferndale, best known for its colorful Victorian architecture, much of it Stick-Eastlake style, is worth the 20-mile drive south from Eureka or north from the Avenue of the Giants. Many Main Street shops carry a self-guided tour map highlighting the most interesting historic buildings. Gift shops and ice-cream stores comprise a fair share of the businesses here, but Ferndale remains a fully functioning small town, and descendants of the Portuguese and Scandinavian dairy farmers who settled here continue to raise dairy cows in the surrounding pastures. If it's open, pop into the two storefronts of the Blacksmith Shop ( 455 and 491 Main St.  707/786–4216  www.ferndaleblacksmith.com), which celebrates the survival of the traditional blacksmithing arts in the area.