California State Parks is giving away a special edition Historian Passport for free through Monday, July 6, opening the door to more than 30 state historic parks across California. The pass normally costs $50, but this version can be downloaded at no charge and used for admission for up to four people per pass.
The free pass can be used for unlimited visits to participating historic parks from Juneteenth through the end of the year, and it remains valid for the rest of 2026. Governor Gavin Newsom announced the offer as part of Juneteenth and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, casting it as a chance to learn the country's history at state parks rather than, in his words, to hide from hard truths or rewrite the past.
The offer is also tied to California’s broader Outdoors for All initiative and to the agency’s Reexamining Our Past Initiative, which it says is meant to tell the full story of how California came to be. Support from the California State Parks Foundation and the California State Railroad Museum Foundation is helping cover the special edition passport, which turns a limited holiday promotion into a yearlong invitation to visit.
The state did not list every park included in the free offer in the announcement, but it did identify Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park as the most significant state park representing Black history in California. That leaves one practical question for visitors: which of the more than 30 historic parks they want to use first before the free download window closes on July 6.
