Through the July 4 weekend, you can download for free The Historian Passport.

The Historian Passport is a special edition pass offered by the California State Parks. Normally costing $50, you can now get it for free. It’s as easy as setting up an account.

With this pass, you can visit 30 historic California parks and admission for four is free the rest of 2026, holidays included.

Create your account or log in to download yours. In the “Select a Pass” drop down, choose the Special Historian Pass. It’ll take you to checkout which is completed without any further action, such as adding credit card information.

Note that this pass doesn’t cover entry to all sites.

Free admission to these California Parks:

*SHP – State Historic Park

** parks not included – Ed Z’Berg Sugar Pine Point SP – Ehrman Mansion, Emerald Bay SP – Vikingsholm, Hearst San Simeon SHM, Marconi Conference Centre SHP, Morro Bay SP – Museum, Old Sacramento SHP – California State Railroad Museum, Tomo Kahni SHP, Watts Towers of Simon Rodia SHP, Woodland Opera House SHP, and a couple of others. (highlighted in orange)

Visit CalParks.org to search for the state parks accepting the Historian Pass.

I’ve used their map and highlighted in yellow the ones accepting the pass and in orange those which are not. Download it as a PDF.