The village of Mendocino and Mendocino County, California, offer some of the most picturesque areas in the state with breathtaking scenery and unspoiled beauty. The historic towns that were once known for supplying redwood lumber to the booming city of San Francisco, three and half hours to the south, today cater to tourists and retirees looking for clean air and unspoiled beauty.
Mendocino offers uncrowded beaches, fishing, camping, whale watching, art galleries, cafes, bookshops, restaurants, wineries and music festivals. The New England-style architecture of the town reflects the homesick pioneers who settled in the area in the mid-19th century as part of the lumber boom. Reminiscent of the Maine and Massachusetts coastlines, the area offers dozens of bed and breakfast inns for weekend and summer retreats.
The town was established by a German immigrant, William Kasten, in 1852 when he was the lone survivor of a shipwreck. He recognized the redwood trees as another kind of 'gold' and a lumber town was created to supply building materials to San Francisco. When the lumber industry died out, the town became an artist's colony and today is an artists and writers community par excellence.
Hollywood has embraced the town as a film location for many of its movies, most notably, "The Russians Are Coming," "The summer of '42," "The Same Time Next Year," "Overboard," "Forever Young," and "Dying Young."
Sitting on a corner in the pretty village is Blair House Inn, known to millions of television viewers as Jessica Fletcher's house (Angela Lansbury in "Murder She Wrote"). Built in 1888, the inn offers four guest rooms and a cozy cottage that used to be the carriage house for the Blair House. Jessica's home in the television series was in the fictional town of Cabot Cove, Maine.
The Victorian mansion was built for Elisha Blair and his family by the leading local builder and carpenter, Oliver Johnson. Mr. Blair had traveled to Mendocino from Maine in 1857 and, while working as a mill hand at the Big River Mill, loaned money to other workers and became a prominent financier. At the time of its construction, it was considered one of the finest homes in Mendocino.
Early photographs of the home show both the carriage house and a large water tower behind the main residence. The framing and the flooring of the house are Douglas Fir and the walls and foundations are virgin, clearheart Redwood, which today would be prohibitively expensive. The use of these materials helps to explain the home's excellent condition today.
Dennen's Victorian Farmhouse was built in 1877 and has inspired many artists, including Thomas Kinkade. Sited on a beautiful, wildlife-filled two acres, the rooms have period antiques, private baths, luxury linens, spa tubs and wood burning fireplaces. Breakfast is served in bed each morning and a short walk brings you to Buckhorn Cove, a secluded and private retreat.
Fort Bragg, just north of Mendocino, was originally a military outpost to maintain order for the Mendocino Indian Reservation in the 1850s. Today, Fort Bragg is flourishing because of the high cost of real estate and retail rents in Mendocino. Suzanne Smith Fratus, an exclusive buyer's agent at Buyers Real Estate Inc., says that the town is poised for a revival and Noyo Harbor, the only navigable harbor between San Francisco and Eureka, has the potential to be the crown jewel of the coast.
Her pride in the community's artistic talents is reflected in this commentary: "Fort Bragg has it all -- natural beauty, a strong sense of community, a creative and real artistic life. Many of the paintings, sculptures and fine furnishings you see for sale in Mendocino were actually created by Fort Bragg artists. This is a real town with a real heart and soul."
In regard to housing in Fort Bragg, she reports that there are some beautiful Victorian era and Craftsman style homes ripe for restoration. She calls them the 'grand dames' of the Mendocino Coast. Travelers who have not ventured off Route 1 (Main Street) have really missed seeing the beauty of Fort Bragg, according to her.
Fort Bragg is also home to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, which contain 47 acres of flowers, trees and shrubs and trails that wind out to the ocean. The Guest House Museum was once the home of Charles Russell Johnson, founder of the Union Lumber Company, still in operation today. Paul Bunyan Days, held in September, celebrate the logging and lumber industries and Noyo Harbor, the home of the area's largest commercial fishing fleet, holds the world's largest salmon barbecue in July.
Other attractions in Fort Bragg include the Skunk Train, which snakes through the mountains, redwood forests, and rivers. The train, which was once a logging train, was nicknamed "skunk" because of the noxious fumes from the original gas engines. Today, they use locomotive-powered passenger trains are called "Super Skunks". Glass Beach, near the Union Lumber Company, was once a polluted dump, now it provides a spot for treasure hunters to look for smooth pieces of old glass bottles and shards of pottery worn by the ocean waves.
Pat Rioux
