Some people say our state parks are a window to our past, but rather they are more like a door to our past: we can walk through that door and viscerally experience the history of California. Indeed, you can tell the entire history of California through its 47 state historic parks. These historic places are more important now than ever as more than 40% of California's historic state parks are slated to close due to budget cuts.

This video is part of The Magnificent 70 project. See more at http://mag70.calparks.org.

Produced by Doug McConnell and Convergence Media. Music by Jenny Lloyd.