Oroville’s Greenline Scenic Tour

The Green­line Tour starts at the Feath­er Riv­er, which fea­tures promi­nent­ly in Oroville’s his­to­ry and con­tin­ues to delight locals and vis­i­tors today. Spend some time at two pop­u­lar river­side parks before con­tin­u­ing the dri­ving tour.

Stop 1: River­bend Park

Sit­u­at­ed on 210 acres right next to the Feath­er Riv­er, the beau­ti­ful River­bend Park fea­tures sports fields, trails along the riv­er, a boat launch, play­ground, two 18-hole disc golf cours­es, and more.

If you have some time for a longer stop and real­ly want to stretch your legs, enjoy the walk along the Feath­er Riv­er Trail, which will take you past Bedrock Park (Stop 2) and all the way to the Green­line Bridge (a lat­er stop along the Greenline).

Oth­er­wise, hop back into the car and con­tin­ue the tour.

With more muse­ums per capi­ta than Sacra­men­to, Oroville is a sur­pris­ing under-the-radar muse­um des­ti­na­tion. His­to­ry buffs in par­tic­u­lar will find Oroville a worth­while des­ti­na­tion with its his­to­ry-focused muse­ums, all of which are just a few blocks from each oth­er. Con­tin­ue your dri­ving tour, or park to enjoy a his­tor­i­cal walk­ing tour of these near­by attractions.

Stop 3: C.F. Lott Home

The his­toric C.F. Lott Home is a Vic­to­ri­an revival-style struc­ture built in 1856 by ​“Judge” Lott, a gold-rush pio­neer who helped form California’s gov­ern­ment. A tour of the house — brought to life by docents clad in peri­od cos­tumes — reveals sto­ries of the Lott fam­i­ly and their impor­tance to ear­ly Cal­i­for­nia as well as the love sto­ry between Lott’s daugh­ter, Cor­nelia, and Jesse Sank. Their love lives on with the home’s loca­tion in Sank Park, which con­tains a beau­ti­ful gar­den and gaze­bo, per­fect for a leisure­ly stroll.

Stop 4: Oroville Chi­nese Temple

For a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive on Cal­i­for­nia pio­neer his­to­ry, head to the Oroville Chi­nese Tem­ple. This now-Cal­i­for­nia land­mark was built in 1863 to serve the largest com­mu­ni­ty of Chi­nese north of Sacra­men­to and high­lights this group’s con­tri­bu­tion to the area. The city-owned muse­um also has an exten­sive tapes­try dis­play, a col­lec­tion of Chi­nese and Amer­i­can cos­tumes, and more. 

Stop 5: Bolt’s Antique Tool Museum

An explo­ration of Oroville’s muse­ums wouldn’t be com­plete with­out the one-of-a-kind Bolt’s Antique Tool Muse­um. With over 12,000 hand tools on dis­play, it’s the only known muse­um of its kind in the world. Don’t hes­i­tate to chat with its City of Oroville muse­um docents, who will tell you more than you ever need­ed to know about the collection!

Stop 6: Cen­ten­ni­al Plaza

Built in hon­or of the City of Oroville’s 100^th year anniver­sary, Cen­ten­ni­al Plaza along Arlin Rhine Memo­r­i­al Dri­ve offers a com­mand­ing view of the Feath­er Riv­er. An ide­al place to stretch your legs, enjoy a pic­nic, take some pho­tos, and take in the serene beau­ty that the Feath­er Riv­er has to offer.

Stop 7: Cham­ber of Commerce

Look­ing for a phys­i­cal map of the Green­line Tour or more infor­ma­tion on any of its attrac­tions while you’re out? Pop into the Oroville Area Cham­ber of Commerce for vis­i­tor guides, rack cards, brochures, and more.

Stop 8: Ehmann Home

Oper­at­ed by the Butte Coun­ty His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety (BCSH), the Ehmann Home show­cas­es Oroville’s role in the ripe olive indus­try at ​“the house that olives built.” Fre­da Ehmann per­fect­ed a cur­ing process for ripe olives at the turn of the 20^th cen­tu­ry, which in turn launched California’s olive indus­try. Her 1911 home stands tes­ta­ment to her and the indus­try she helped shape. (Add a bonus stop to the tour with a detour to the BCSH Muse­um to learn about Butte Coun­ty’s his­to­ry from the ear­ly min­ing days to present time.)

Stop 9: Oroville State Theater

The his­toric Oroville State The­ater has its own rich his­to­ry worth dis­cov­er­ing. Con­struct­ed in 1927 from a design by renowned archi­tect Tim­o­thy Pfluger, the State The­ater has been under­go­ing ren­o­va­tions by the State The­ater Arts Guild (STAGE), the non-prof­it that owns the the­ater, to return it to its 1920s glo­ry. The ren­o­va­tions include paint restora­tions, instal­la­tion of a mod­ern-yet-vin­tage mar­quee, and restora­tions to an authen­tic Wurl­itzer pipe organ. Enjoy a quick stop to snap a self­ie in front of the beau­ti­ful mar­quee or come back in the evening to catch a show in the heart of Down­town Oroville.

Stop 10: Pio­neer His­to­ry Museum

A trip to the Pio­neer His­to­ry Muse­um, man­aged by the City of Oroville and housed in an over­sized repli­ca of a 49^er’s cab­in, feels like a step back into the Gold Rush era. While it doesn’t look like it from the out­side, 6,000 square feet of his­toric trea­sures from the mid-1800s to the 1920s await vis­i­tors. From the orig­i­nal Ore­gon City School organ and a doll from the Don­ner Par­ty to Indi­an arti­facts and dis­plays on the pio­neer fam­i­lies who found­ed the muse­um, a vis­it paints a vivid pic­ture of the lives of ear­ly Cal­i­for­nia settlers.

Span­ning the Feath­er Riv­er, the Green­line Bridge, right next to the his­toric old Table Moun­tain Bridge, fea­tures some­thing spe­cial on both sides of the riv­er. Stay on the Down­town side to explore the Feath­er Riv­er Nature Cen­ter or make the brief dri­ve (or walk) across to learn more about salmon at the Feath­er Riv­er Fish Hatchery.

Stop 11: Feath­er Riv­er Nature Center

Out­door enthu­si­asts will also find muse­ums to enjoy. The city-man­aged Feath­er Riv­er Nature Cen­ter sits right on the Feath­er Riv­er at the for­mer site of a Maidu fish­ing vil­lage. The Bath House, which pro­vid­ed show­ers and restroom facil­i­ties for the swim­mers and sun­bathers in the 1930s, today pro­vides nature edu­ca­tion pro­gram­ming and exhibits por­tray­ing local wildlife, while the Nature Cen­ter grounds are home to var­i­ous native plants, trees and animals.

Stop 12: Feath­er Riv­er Fish Hatchery

Just across the riv­er from the Nature Cen­ter is the Feath­er Riv­er Fish Hatch­ery. This is where the Depart­ment of Water Resources rais­es Chi­nook salmon and steel­head, help­ing them fin­ish their spawn­ing jour­neys. It’s also the place where you can get up-close and per­son­al with those migrat­ing fish through under­wa­ter view­ing win­dows. Enjoy a short stop to the win­dow and diver­sion dam or make time for a longer self-guid­ed tour.

A tour of Oroville wouldn’t be com­plete with­out a trip to Lake Oroville, home to the final two stops on the Greenline.

Stop 13: Oroville Dam

While you can appre­ci­ate the size of the Oroville Dam—the tallest dam in the coun­ty cre­at­ing the sec­ond largest reser­voir, by vol­ume, in Cal­i­for­nia — from afar, stand­ing on top of it brings its mas­sive scale into clear­er focus. Dri­ve across to enjoy a pic­nic at a day-use area or park along its south side to walk across or up to the near­by Over­look area for a more expan­sive view.

Stop 14: Lake Oroville Vis­i­tor Center

Your Green­line Tour ends at Lake Oroville Vis­i­tor Cen­ter, locat­ed high above Lake Oroville. The vis­i­tor cen­ter over­looks both the lake and the dam and fea­tures inter­pre­tive dis­plays, an audio-video room, and more. Per­haps most fun is its 47-foot view­ing tow­er, where you can take in 360-degree views of the lake and dam through high-pow­ered telescopes.

Whether you dis­cov­er all the his­toric and nat­ur­al attrac­tions along the Green­line in one go or mean­der your way through the city, there’s still more to dis­cov­er in Oroville. Com­plete your trip with a meal or two at one of the city’s deli­cious restau­rants, a vis­it to one of its unique stores and bou­tiques, and explore more of its out­door offerings.