Tehama, CA

Tehama is a small Tehama County city on the west bank of the Sacramento River, with the river forming its western edge. A Nomlaki village of Wintun people once stood on the site, and the city's later streets were laid out close to the water. The 2020 census counted 435 residents. River movement has literally changed the map: First Street disappeared as the bank eroded, leaving the waterfront as both a boundary and a reminder that the city sits on shifting ground.

ATTRGuy Churchward / CC BY 2.0

Tehama's civic places are compact and easy to picture. Habert Park sits on C Street, while Belbeck Park includes an old brick schoolhouse that now houses a Head Start program. City Hall and the Tehama County Museum add a civic and historical center to the small grid of streets. Those places give the town a daily rhythm beyond the river itself, but the Sacramento remains the defining edge. Tehama is a community where local history, public gathering space, and the forces that have reshaped the shoreline all meet within a very small footprint.