Explore Butte County’s Small Communities

South of Chico, Durham was orig­i­nal­ly estab­lished in 1917 as an exper­i­men­tal coop­er­a­tive agri­cul­tur­al colony, and main­tains much of that agri­cul­tur­al lifestyle today. Fea­tur­ing a wealth of local orchards, the Durham Wine Dis­trict is the per­fect place to enjoy a day of arti­san wine tast­ing.

On the Butte-Yuba bor­der, Ban­gor also offers a vari­ety of stops for wine lovers. Orig­i­nal­ly found­ed in 1855 as a min­ing boom-town by home­sick trav­el­ers from Maine, Ban­gor is now enjoy­ing a wine indus­try boom, and you can eas­i­ly enjoy an entire day of local tast­ings at the winer­ies in the Ban­gor Wine and Spir­its Region. And while you’re there, don’t miss a stop at the local-favorite Ban­gor Bake Shoppe.

Just north of Mag­a­lia, Stir­ling City began in 1903 as a milling des­ti­na­tion, and the local Stir­ling City His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety muse­um offers a look at the town’s log­ging his­to­ry. It’s now home to just about 300 peo­ple, but still fea­tures Clotilde Mer­lo Park, a must-vis­it attrac­tion that offers 20 acres of forest­ed paths and board­walks.

Inskip was a gold rush des­ti­na­tion most famous­ly sup­port­ed by its inn. A pop­u­lar stop for min­ers trav­el­ing through in its hey­day, the town now has a rebuilt Inskip Hotel, which is not only on the Nation­al Reg­is­ter of His­tor­i­cal Places, but is rumored to be haunt­ed by an arson­ist-hunt­ing ghost. Inskip also gets snowy hills dur­ing cold­er win­ters, mak­ing it a qui­eter out­door win­ter des­ti­na­tion.

Berry Creek also has a rich his­to­ry, from hum­ble begin­nings as a gold min­ing camp. Today, while Berry Creek is almost more a zip code than a loca­tion, its prox­im­i­ty to Plumas Nation­al For­est makes it an excel­lent stag­ing area for trips to near­by Big Bald Rock or any of the forest’s oth­er nat­ur­al trea­sures.

Final­ly, there’s Chero­kee, anoth­er of Butte County’s his­tor­i­cal high­lights. Once home to Native Amer­i­cans of the Maidu tribe, it even­tu­al­ly came to house one of the state’s most pro­duc­tive hydraulic mines. But the mine was short-lived, and today, all that remains is a cemetery.

A ghost town tucked away between Oroville and Chero­kee, Ore­gon City is home to an 1872 school­house that’s been trans­formed into a muse­um by the Butte Coun­ty His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety, and the 1983 Ore­gon City Cov­ered Bridge is a per­fect place for a self­ie or fam­i­ly pho­to.

Yan­kee Hill offers more great oppor­tu­ni­ties for pho­to mem­o­ries. Sit­u­at­ed along a gor­geous, rocky stretch of Butte County’s scenic High­way 70, there are plen­ty of places to stop for a pic­ture or to take in the view. Yan­kee Hill is also home to Rock House Din­ing & Espres­so, a sat­is­fy­ing eatery loved by locals and vis­i­tors alike. With an icon­ic sign and 18” walls orig­i­nal­ly built from local stone in 1937, it’s a per­fect place to take a pho­to and reflect on your adventures.

Though the indus­tries at the foun­da­tion of Butte County’s small­est regions are long gone, the com­mu­ni­ties that remain are home to both rich his­to­ry and activ­i­ties that set them apart from their more urban city kin.