Monterey State Historic Park is less a single site than a trail of connected stories scattered across Old Monterey. Its 17 historic buildings include the Custom House, built in 1827 and the oldest government building in California, and the Pacific House, which has served as a military office, courthouse, jail, tavern and newspaper office at various points.

The flagpole outside the Custom House marks where Commander John Sloat raised the American flag in July 1846, claiming 600,000 square miles for the United States without a shot. Elsewhere, the Casa de Oro once housed the only iron safe in town, where Gold Rush miners stored their dust. The Larkin House, built in 1835, was the first two-storey building in California and the headquarters of the state's first military governor.

VoiceMap's walking tour moves between these buildings, tracing Monterey's overlapping Spanish, Mexican and early American histories through the people who lived inside them.