The Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park is one of Carson Valley's first and largest ranches. The ranch was home to German immigrant Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg, who founded the site in 1857. A local businessman, rancher, and politician, Dangberg started his ranch with just a log cabin. At the time of his death in 1904, he had created a 20,000 acre ranching empire that his sons expanded to 48,000 acres. More than five acres of the ranch are now owned by Douglas County and managed by Nevada State Parks. The county and state are restoring the original buildings, including a main house, a stone cellar, a laundry building, a carriage house, a garage, and a bunkhouse. These buildings and original artifacts are on display.

The site offers tours.

The park contains a refurnished replica of Mission Nuestra Senora del Espíritu Santo de Zuniga, reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. The mission was originally established in 1722 near Matagorda Bay and moved to its present site in 1749. This mission was the first large cattle ranch in Texas, supplying its own needs and those of Spanish colonial settlements as far away as Louisiana. The park also contains General Ignacio Zaragoza's Birthplace, Plaza, and Amphitheater, which are located near Presidio La Bahia. General Zaragoza assumed command of the rag-tag Mexican Army and welded it into a staunch fighting force, which met and defeated the French on May 5, 1862, in the Battle of Puebla, which led to Mexico's independence from France.

The site offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.

The Ranch was once the showplace of the world renowned Wild West Show entertainer, Gordon W. "Pawnee Bill" Lillie. Visitors can tour Pawnee Bill and his wife, May's, 14-room mansion, fully furnished with their original belongings. Completed in 1910, the home is filled with Lillie family memorabilia, photographs, original artwork, and more. The Ranch property also houses a museum with exhibits related to Pawnee Bill, the Wild West Shows, and the Pawnees. The 500-acre grounds include the original Ranch blacksmith shop, a 1903 log cabin, a large barn built in 1926 and an Indian Flower Shrine. The Ranch also recreates Pawnee Bill's Original Wild West Show the last three Saturdays in June every year.

The ranch offers exhibits, tours, performances, and educational and recreational events and programs.

The purpose of Año Nuevo State Park is to preserve and protect a substantial area on the western slope of the central Coast Range inland from Año Nuevo Point. Cultural resources include the remnants of a prehistoric Native American village site and a number of structures from the 19th-century Cascade Ranch.

The park offers exhibits and tours.

In the middle of San Francisco Bay sits Angel Island State Park. Three thousand years ago, the island was a fishing and hunting site for Coastal Miwok Indians. It was later a haven for Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala, a cattle ranch, and a U.S. Army post. From 1910 to 1940, the island processed hundreds of thousands of immigrants, the majority from China. During World War II, Japanese and German POWs were held on the island, which was also used as a jumping-off point for American soldiers returning from the Pacific. In the '50s and '60s, the island was home to a Nike missile base.

The site offers tours, exhibits, and educational and recreational programs and events, and works in coordination with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, listed above, for educational programs focusing on the immigration history of the island.

Anderson Marsh State Historic Park contains oak woodlands, grass-covered hills, and tule marsh. One of the largest groups of people in prehistoric California, the Southeastern Pomo, knew this land as home. Today, descendants of those people still live nearby. Anderson Marsh's archaeological sites hold clues to the lives of the Pomo. Some sites are over 10,000 years old, making them among the oldest in California. Visitors can also explore the past at the historic Anderson Ranch, with its 19th-century structures.

The parks offers exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park was the main residence of Rancho Petaluma, the agricultural empire that made General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo one of the most powerful men in the Mexican Province of California from 1834 to 1846. Vallejo ran his cattle, hide, and tallow business; raised sheep; bred horses; and grew numerous crops. The adobe contains authentic furniture and exhibits depicting early rancho life. The huge adobe building, the largest private rancho in California between 1834 and 1846, was the center of activity on one of the most prosperous private estates established during the Mexican period.

The park offers exhibits; tours; and occasional recreational and educational events, including living history events.