Wayfarrow

Lava Beds

Ghost town · Butte County, California

Palermo quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1912, 1:31,680)
Palermo quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1912, 1:31,680) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Lava Beds is a ghost town in Butte County, California. It is one of 37 former communities in Butte County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 3rd among the 58 California counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Lava Beds as a historical populated place on the Palermo topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 39.4741° N, 121.5702° W.

Key facts

USGS quadranglePalermo
Elevation149 ft
Nearest living townSouth Oroville, CA
Distance to it1.4 miles
GNIS feature ID1723973
Coordinates39.47405, -121.57025

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Lava Beds is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is South Oroville, CA (population 2,811), about 1.4 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 149 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Lava Beds?

Lava Beds is in Butte County, California, at 39.4741, -121.5702.

How many ghost towns are in Butte County?

Butte County, California has 37 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.