The chief port between San Francisco and the Columbia River, which defines much of the Washington/Oregon border, Eureka has a distinct maritime feel courtesy of its location on Humboldt Bay. Ornate Victorian dwellings like the Carson Mansion at 2nd and M streets (not open to the public) reflect the days when lumber barons prospered.

Old Town Eureka runs the length of First, Second and Third streets between C and M streets. This historic district of renovated 19th-century buildings has specialty shops, restaurants and art galleries to explore.

Humboldt Bay yields catches of crab, salmon, shrimp, albacore and bottom fish. Fishing fleets dock just across the Samoa Bridge at Woodley Island Marina, where a copper-clad redwood statue of a fisherman commemorates fishermen lost at sea. Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum, adjacent to the Samoa Cookhouse, displays marine artifacts and photographs of an earlier Eureka; phone (707) 444-9440.

Established in the late 1800s as a large lumber camp chowhouse, the Samoa Cookhouse Museum, 908 Vance Ave., displays equipment, utensils and memorabilia from the lumber and logging industry in the restaurant's museum and dining rooms; phone (707) 442-1659.

Eureka-Humboldt Visitors Bureau 322 First St. Eureka, CA 95501. Phone:(707)443-5097 or (800)346-3482

Information describing some 100 vintage homes is available from the Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce, 2112 Broadway, Eureka, CA 95501-2189; phone (707) 442-3738.

Blue Ox Historic Village

Clarke Historical Museum

Discovery Museum

Fort Humboldt State Historic Park

Humboldt Bay Harbor Cruise

Humboldt Botanical Garden

The Morris Graves Museum of Art

Romano Gabriel's Wooden Sculpture Garden

Sequoia Park Zoo