Virtual Guidebook to the Northern California Coast and Coast Ranges
Downtown Scotia
On the Eel River in Humboldt County California

Company-built and owned towns were often a necessity for lumber and mining enterprises in the west. Most were strictly practical and often temporary. But at Scotia the Pacific Lumber Company built a masterpiece, Scotia, the most elaborate and beautiful of all western company towns. Scotia survives intact today, despite two decades of ownership by the despicable Charles Hurwitz.

Downtown, the north end of Scotia, consists of the hotel, shopping center, theater, a former bank which is now a museum, health center, and company offices. All the buildings are constrcuted of redwood, often unpainted, and sometimes with the bark still on. Huge mill buildings run through the middle of town, between the railroad tracks and the millponds.