Today is a beautiful day to be out and about, so I went to William B. Ide Adobe State Historic Park in Red Bluff to walk their StoryWalk.

The guides at Ide Adobe do a StoryWalk every month, featuring a seasonal or fun picture book. Today’s book, in honor of Black History Month, was my book on Alvin Coffey, African-American Forty-Niner. The pages were cut apart, laminated, and posted on the fence along the river. Read at your own pace.

If you want to see what pioneer life was like on the California frontier in the 1850s, Ide Adobe SHP is the place to go. It sits on the banks of the Sacramento River, and shows how a family might have lived, with its adobe cabin, water well, smokehouse, garden, blacksmith shop, and garden.

It was once thought that William B. Ide, a leader of the Bear Flag Revolt and the first (and only) president of the short-lived California Republic, lived here in this adobe house. That is now considered incorrect, but the State Park still bears his name and honors his legacy. The site is just north of Rancho Barranca Colorada, the Mexican land grant that Ide owned jointly with Josiah Belden.

The adobe was actually built in 1852 by A. M. Dibble, an early settler in Red Bluff. It changed owners numerous times over the years, until acquired by California State Parks. The site was the location of a ferry across the Sacramento River.

Spring is the perfect time to visit Ide Adobe State Historic Park. Take a walk down by the river. Look for birds and wild critters. The grounds are open sunrise to sunset and the Visitor’s Center is open Friday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Check their Facebook page for the next StoryWalk activity.