Bakersfield Featured in New Historic Trails Brochure

The Southern Trails Auto Tours highlights cities along 13 historic trails across 11 states.

With people considering road trips as a safe way to travel, the new Southern Trails Auto Tours brochure provides exciting and historic routes to explore cities across the Southwest, including Bakersfield.

Bakersfield is located on the historic Butterfield Overland Trail, created in the 1850’s as a year-round all-weather trail to assist the U.S. Post Office with mail delivery. The trail started in Tipton, Missouri and passed through what is today Bakersfield on the way to San Francisco.

The arrival of this brochure fits perfectly with recent changes in the travel market, said Visit Bakersfield Manager David Lyman. “Travelers are looking for ways to safely experience summer, and car and RV travel allows families to discover new destinations,” he said. “This new auto tours brochure highlights some of the many reasons to visit Bakersfield, and offers a unique historical angle that many people did not know about.”

Bakersfield is one of only five California cities featured in the new Southern Trails Auto Tours brochure. Local highlights include the Bakersfield Museum Trail and its four museums – Kern County Museum, Buena Vista Museum of Natural History & Science, California Living Museum and Bakersfield Museum of Art; Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace; Downtown Arts District; Downtown Antique District featuring the last remaining Woolworth’s lunch counter in the nation; and the Kern River Parkway Trail. The Southern Trails Auto Tours brochure allows today’s trail travelers to follow 13 historic trails across 11 states--not by stagecoach, horseback or covered wagon--but in the comfort of their own vehicles on today’s modern interstate highways and primary roads, roads that largely follow these legendary trails. These trails, and many cities along their routes, can now be explored through this new full-color brochure. It is being distributed throughout those 11 states and is available from Visit Bakersfield.

While Visit Bakersfield‘s visitor center is temporarily closed, you can request your free copy of the new Southern Trails Auto Tours brochure by phone (661 852-7282) or email (info@VisitBakersfield.com). You can also view the brochure’s information online here.

The Southern Trails Auto Tours brochure was produced by the Oregon-California Trails Association and funded in part by 22 program partners, including Visit Bakersfield.

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