Havilah was an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Kern County, California Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...

that was completely destroyed by the 2024 Borel Fire. The land is located in the mountains between

Walker Basin Walker Basin is a valley in the Southern Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California. It is named for Joseph R. Walker, a pioneer in the area. Geography Walker Basin is located south of Lake Isabella and the Kern River Valley, east of Bakersfield, ...

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 Bodfish is a census-designated place (CDP) in the southern Kern River Valley of the Southern Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California, United States. Bodfish is located east-northeast of Bakersfield, at an elevation of . The population was 2,0 ...

at an elevation of .

History

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 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 The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between ...

, the group claimed a townsite on the road from

Keyesville Keyesville (formerly, Keysville and Hogeye) is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located west of Lake Isabella and the Kern River Valley, at an elevation of . Keyesville, founded in 1854 is named for Richard M. Keye ...

to Tehachapi and named it after the Biblical land of

Havilah Havilah () refers to both a land and people in several books of the Bible; one is mentioned in Genesis 2:10–11, while the other is mentioned in the Generations of Noah (Genesis 10:7). In Genesis 2:10–11, Havilah is associated with the Garden ...

, "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 parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

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 and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...

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 the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

#100.

Modern

Havilah Courier building at Kern County Museum

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 were constructed near their original locations. The sides of Caliente-Bodfish Road in Havilah are lined with signs marking where other historic buildings once stood. However, in July 2024 a wildfire leveled much of the community. The courthouse replica was destroyed but firefighters were able to save the schoolhouse. A

US Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

fire station is situated along Caliente-Bodfish Road at . The

US Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

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 telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) in the U.S. state of California. The numbering plan area comprises the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley and the far northern part of the Los Angeles metrop ...

. 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 boun ...

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 a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

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 Kern or KERN may refer to: People * Kern (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Kern (soldier), a light infantry unit in Medieval Irish armies Places * Kern, Alaska, a ghost town in Alaska * Kern, Austria, see Sankt Marienki ...

. 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 (SCE), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electric utility company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximate ...

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