Havilah is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Kern County
Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield.
Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
It is located in the mountains between
Walker Basin and the
Kern River Valley
The Kern River Valley is a valley and region of the Southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California, Kern County, California.
History
The valley was inhabited for millennia by the indigenous Tübatulabal and Kawaiisu peo ...
,
[Map: Miracle Hot Springs, California, 7.5-minute quadrangle, US Geological Survey, 1989.] south-southwest of
Bodfish at an elevation of .
History
Early
Asbury Harpending
Asbury Harpending (September 14, 1839 – January 26, 1923) was an adventurer and financier in San Francisco, California, Mexico, and New York City.
Early life
Harpending was born in Hopkinsville in Christian County in southwestern Kentucky. At th ...
arrived in the area where there were many southern-sympathizers in 1864. After finding gold deposits on Clear Creek, a tributary of the
Kern River
The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfiel ...
, the group claimed a townsite on the road from
Keyesville to
Tehachapi and named it after the Biblical land of
Havilah
Havilah ( ''Ḥăwīlāh'') refers to both a land and people in several books of the Bible; the one mentioned in , while the other is mentioned in .
Biblical mentions
In one case, Havilah is associated with the Garden of Eden, that mentioned in ...
, "where there is gold" according to Genesis 2:11. By the end of 1865, Havilah was a boom town with 147 business buildings, thirteen saloons, and a population of nearly a thousand, mostly miners working the Clear Creek Mining District.
Havilah was the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
at the founding of Kern County on April 2, 1866, and the county's first newspaper, the ''Havilah Courier'', began publication that same year. The county government was moved to
Bakersfield
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
in 1874.
A post office operated at Havilah from 1866 to 1918.
The Havilah School District, formed in 1866, was the first public school in Kern County.
Nearby historic mining communities include
Loraine, (originally named ''Paris'') and
Twin Oaks. The town is now registered as
California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
#100.
Modern
Aside from the Old Havilah Cemetery, little remains from the original settlement, most of which was destroyed by fires in the 1920s. A replica of the courthouse and one-room schoolhouse have been constructed near their original locations. The sides of Caliente-Bodfish Road in Havilah are lined with signs marking where other historic buildings once stood.
Accessible by car, Havilah is just over driving distance from the intersection of
State Route 58 and Caliente-Bodfish Road. It is just over five driving miles from Bodfish on Caliente-Bodfish Road.
![Havilah CA USFS Service Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Havilah_CA_USFS_Service_Center.JPG)
A
US Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
fire station is situated along Caliente-Bodfish Road at .
The
US Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, an ...
plots several mines nearby. Names of local mines include:
* Southern Cross Mine
* Friday Mine
* Uncle Sam Mine
* McKeadney Mine
Districts, zones, boundaries, and services
The ZIP Code is 93518, and the community is inside
area code 661
Area code 661 is a California telephone area code that covers the majority of Kern County, as well as part of Los Angeles County, Santa Barbara County, and Tulare County. It was split from area code 805 on February 13, 1999.
Principal cities in t ...
. Havilah shares its postal ZIP Code with the nearby communities of
Caliente and Loraine. The community is within the Kern County Air Pollution Control District.
The area is bordered to the east and west by
Sequoia National Forest
Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundar ...
lands and is located at the junction of Havilah Canyon and Haight Canyon. Elevations at the floor of the canyon range from approximately
AMSL
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
to . Havilah Canyon runs roughly north-south and mountain peaks to the east and west are over higher than the roadway, which runs along the floor of Havilah Canyon. King Solomons Ridge lies to the east; Hobo Ridge lies to the west.
Snow may be present during winter months.
The community falls within the Battalion 7 area of the
Kern County Fire Department
The Kern County Fire Department (KCFD) provides fire protection and emergency response services for the unincorporated areas of Kern County, California, and for multiple cities within the county. The department covers an area which spans over .
I ...
. It is listed by the California Fire Alliance as being at high risk to wildfire.
[Kern County Fire Department, Wildland Fire Management Plan, 2004.]
Commercial electric power is supplied by
Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of app ...
.
California Historical Landmark
The California Historical Landmark reads:
:''NO. 100 HAVILAH - Gold deposits at Havilah were discovered in 1864. Havilah was the county seat between 1866, when Kern County was organized, and 1872, when the government was moved to Bakersfield. Havilah was an active mining center for more than 20 years, and there are still some operating mines in this vicinity.''
californiahistoricallandmarks.com Landmark chl-100
/ref>
A state plaque is located at 10 Miller St. in Bodfish, California. A private plaque is at 6789 Caliente-Bodfish Rd., Havilah, California.
See also
*California Historical Landmarks in Kern County
Properties and districts listed as California Historical Landmarks within Kern County.
*Note: ''Click the "Map of all coordinates" link to the right to view a Google map of all properties and districts with latitude and longitude coordinates in t ...
*California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Kern County, California
Former county seats in California
Unincorporated communities in California
California Historical Landmarks