Del Norte County Historical Society — Attraction in Crescent City

My husband and I have visited quite a few museums in NorCal and Southern Oregon. This museum is one of the best! The woven Native American baskets are incredibly made; there's a detailed history of people and places around Crescent City and the entire county; and one of the most amazing things to see is the original Fresnel lens that came out of the St. George Reef Lighthouse! The lens alone is worth going into the museum, and with a $5/person donation request, it's well worth it. *If you'd like to see the Lighthouse it came out of, on clear days you can see it from...

The museum was very informative of local history, but we were a little put off by them requesting money as soon as we walked in the door. It was posted in several places the suggested donation amount, as they run off of donations, but immediately after walking in the door we were approached by a woman saying we owed $5/adult and $1/child and held out her hand waiting for the money. We had planned on donating $20, but after being approached as if we owed them for visiting, we only “donated” the amount she told us too. Probably won’t visit again...

Lack luster museum. Not very handicap friendly as half of the museum is upstairs. They ask for a $3 donation for a “guided tour” then after taking your $3 a head spend 60 seconds or less telling you “this is here, that is there, explore on your own.” That being said as I opened one of the first binders to read about town history I saw a gigantic spider 🕷 then told the staff who literally did nothing. There are a few cool historic items to look at but nothing amazing. If you got $3 and some time to kill...