Scotia, CA

Scotia sits on the Eel River in southern Humboldt County, a redwood town built around the Pacific Lumber Company. The place began as Forestville, then took the name Scotia when a post office opened in 1888. Pacific Lumber had acquired timberland in 1869 and built a full company town around its mill: worker housing, a school, hospital, hotel, bank, theater, churches, and a fire department. Mill B, opened in 1910, made Scotia one of the best-known lumber settlements on the North Coast. PALCO kept ownership of the town's homes and commercial buildings until bankruptcy proceedings in 2008 began changing that arrangement.

ATTRSteve Shook from Moscow, Idaho, USA / CC BY 2.0

U.S. 101 runs beside Scotia, putting Fortuna, Rio Dell, and the wider redwood country on the same road. The old Mill A area now holds the Scotia Industrial Park, while the Scotia Museum, hotel, movie theater, shopping center, school, churches, and community recreation facilities keep the town's everyday map legible. The Eel River and surrounding redwood hills still set the landscape, even as homes have moved toward individual ownership. Scotia is a place where industrial history is in the street plan, the buildings, and the riverfront itself.