One of Healdsburg’s most popular attractions is its centerpiece square. The shop-lined plaza has been the heart of the town since 1857, when Ohio-born gold miner Harmon Heald built a few businesses around it, just a few blocks off the main route between San Francisco and the northern gold country. Today it continues to be the region’s epicenter, luring locals with coffee and legendary sticky buns at Downtown Bakery & Creamery (308 A Center St., Healdsburg; 707/431-2719; www.downtownbakery.net).