Calico is a San Bernardino County regional park built on the bones of a genuine silver-rush town. The mines here were discovered in 1881 and the town grew quickly to around 1,200 residents — a short-lived boom that lasted until falling silver prices killed it in the mid-1890s. Walter Knott (of Knott's Berry Farm fame) bought the ruins in 1951 and spent years restoring and reconstructing the town before donating it to the county in 1966.
The result is part authentic ruins and part theme park, which makes it an honest description: yes, there is a gift shop and a narrow-gauge mine train ride, and yes, the wooden storefronts look just a little too freshly painted. But the setting is genuine — the silver-grey hills around Calico are as stark and beautiful as any desert landscape, and the original mine shaft is real and walkable. The Maggie Mine tour is the main draw. Go on a weekday if you want the place to yourself; weekends bring crowds from the greater Los Angeles area.