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 ...

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 state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. 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, in Kern County, California. History The valley was inhabited for millennia by the indigenous Tübatulabal and Kawaiisu people, and various bedrock mortar and pictograph ...

,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 Bakersfie ...

, 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 ...

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 The following highways are numbered 58: International * European route E58 Australia * Riverina Highway Canada * Alberta Highway 58 * Highway 58 (Ontario) * Saskatchewan Highway 58 Finland * Finnish national road 58 India * National Highway ...

and Caliente-Bodfish Road. It is just over five driving miles from Bodfish on Caliente-Bodfish Road. Havilah Courier building at Kern County Museum

Havilah Courier building at Kern County Museum

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 in ...

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, and ...

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 i ...

. 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 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 ...

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. 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 ap ...

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.

References

External links

* {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Kern County, California Former county seats in California Unincorporated communities in California California Historical Landmarks