BEYOND THE BUSTLE BEYOND THE BUSTLE

DISCOVER HISTORY & ACTIVITY IN THE UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES

Nord

Cherokee

Inskip

In its earliest years, Butte County was home to mining and saw milling and was a prime stopover point for stagecoaches and rails serving those industries and the communities that grew around them. As the county developed, those industries faded, and with them, much of the economic source of the communities. However, while the major industries that once supported the areas were gone, small pockets of residents remained in these unincorporated communities to create new versions of their once bustling towns.

Butte Meadows, for example, developed around the Sierra Lumber Company and was a summer resort location for those living in Chico, San Francisco, and other cities. However, with the lumber mill and resorts long closed, the small hamlet in the northernmost region of the county is today home to fewer than 50 people. During the summer, its higher elevations offer a cool reprieve from the valley summer heat, while its location in the snow-covered Lassen National Forest makes it a popular destination for winter day trips, especially with stops at local favorites The Outpost and The Bambi Inn.

Nearby 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 population so miniscule it doesn’t move the census and only a few small buildings, including the rebuilt (and, if rumors are true, haunted by an arsonist-hunting ghost) Inskip Hotel, now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Just a few miles south, Stirling City originated in 1903 as a milling destination for the Diamond Match Co. from Ohio. For 70 years, Stirling City’s major economic driver was its sawmill, which closed in the 1970s. Today, the town is home to just about 300 people. Visitors can enjoy a visit to Clotilde Merlo Park May through October.

South of Chico, Durham was originally established in 1917 as an experimental cooperative agricultural colony, and maintains much of that agricultural lifestyle today. Dotted with large homesteads and featuring a variety of orchards, it’s not out of the ordinary for visitors seeking a rural break to enjoy a day wine tasting at the Durham Wine District or intimate farm experiences at a generational family farm.

Cherokee was once home to Maidu Native Americans before gold miners set up camp. Thanks to one of the state’s most productive hydraulic mines, the town’s population once reached the thousands. But the mine was short lived, closing before the turn of the 20th century. Today, all that remains are a cemetery, the Cherokee Museum, and a population of about 70.

East as the bird flies, Berry Creek has been many things over the years—a gold mining camp, a stagecoach stop, a lumber town, a vacation spot. Today, it’s home to retirees wanting a quieter life and those who want to live a little off the grid. Locals will tell you that it’s more a zip code than a defined place. In September of 2020, a wildfire tore through the area, displacing the 6,000 people who called it home. Many are eager to return and rebuild, demonstrating the grit so common to the community.

On the Butte-Yuba line in the southeast corner of the county, Bangor is home to just under 700 people. Founded in 1855 as a mining boomtown by homesick travelers from Maine, today Bangor is enjoying a mini wine industry boom. The particularly fertile agricultural region has a well-deserved place on the famed North Sierra Wine Trail. You can enjoy a day tasting at a variety of wineries in the Bangor Wine and Spirits Region. Though the industries at the foundation of these places are long gone, the unincorporated communities that remain are home to plenty of history and activity beyond the bustle of the cities.