Colton Hall Museum

I really enjoyed paying the Colton Hall a visit. Why did I never learn any of that in my history classes? Who knew the California Constitution was signed right here in Monterey! So awesome. The jail house next door is also a cool site. It won’t take you too long to look through both of these areas, I would say about 30 minutes tops. Enjoy!

Wow!
Tons of people, beautiful weather… 4^th of July action and performances from all over!
Whats not to like!
FTW
;D

I’m a fan of historical sites, and a fan of preserving them — 4 stars!
Plus it’s free!
As a museum, it rates about a 2. Not much to see — the building is nice as are the grounds — it’s basically one room where they wrote CA’s constitution.
The next paragraph is a paste from Kim S. who wrote a solid review–
Colton Hall was built in the 1840s. Shortly after its construction 48 delegates to California’s Constitutional Convention met in the second floor assembly hall in 1849. The City of Monterey restored the building and the meeting room is preserved as it looked during those six weeks in September and October, 1849. Thanks to the delegates deliberations, California entered the Union as the 31^st state in 1850.
It was a school at one time, and housed the jail. The entrance to the cells is on the back of the building — good to check out. There’s a timeline for the history of CA on the walkway which was interesting.
The room is original but everything in it is a re-​creation, and you could get the history info online I’m sure — so it’s really just checking out the building and the jail. The re — creation of the does give you a pretty good idea of what it must have been like. I appreciated the maps and the copies of other State’s Constitutions they were using as a guideline.
10 – 20 minutes max. for a visit here.
As Kim S. stated, I agree it’s not a place you would go out of your way, or make a special trip to see. It’s a good, quick stop if you are into historical sites, and are seeing other things in the area — and it’s free, so why not check it out!

Who knew that Colton Hall is THE place to learn about our states history? This was such a random fine, as we were waiting for the art museum across the street to open we decided to walk over and spend no more than 15 minutes here. We ended up hanging out for over 2 hours! And never had I learned so much about California! Not in school, a book anything!
Copies of our original constitution can be seen here as well other important documents. The building and the surrounding gardens are beautiful and worth stopping in for. If you have kids, or act like a kid then this a must see.

This humble but beautiful structure sheltered the original drafters of the California constitution. Colton Hall is still functional housing some city offices. According to the guide, the Hall never burned down so the same wooden floors beneath your feet is the same wooden floors that California’s earliest statesmen stepped on. The building and the grounds it sits on are very picturesque.

If you’re checking out Monterey’s historical sites, this is a must-​do.
Colton Hall was built in the 1840s. Shortly after its construction 48 delegates to California’s Constitutional Convention met in the second floor assembly hall in 1849. The City of Monterey restored the building and the meeting room is preserved as it looked during those six weeks in September and October, 1849. Thanks to the delegates deliberations, California entered the Union as the 31^st state in 1850.
So while there’s not tons to see in the museum, what’s there is pretty cool. Plus I do believe it’s free, so you might as well stop by.
Open: daily 10am-​4pm, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Update–
Someone asked me why I only gave it 3 stars…
Well, I gave it 3 in regards to it not being somewhere I’d recommend going out of your way to visit. I guess I did say above that it’s a must see, but it’s a must see only if you’re into historical locations. It’s fairly significant place history-​wise, and they’ve made it look cool with historical props etc. which is great. However, overall there isn’t much to actually look at — I could probably spend 10 minutes there max. And so the reality is that I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who’s not a history/​museum nut.