Norman de Vall aboard the WAPAMA while working on the Beaches and Parks Historic Ships Project in 1959-1961. Ferry in background would be either the EUREKA, BERKELEY or SAN LEANDRO. As soon as I got my first boat at age12 or 13, I found in the back waters of Los Angeles Harbor a scrapped steam schooner that had been reduced to a hollow shell stripped of [...]
A new exhibit showcasing the nautical collection of coast resident Norman de Vall will open at the Kelley House Museum in Mendocino. Through November 11, you can see antique coastal charts dating back to the 1700’s, sextants old and new, a large brass compass from a sailing ship, taffrail logs that were pulled behind the ship to calculate its speed, a caulking mallet and irons, and [...]
The Schooner J. C. Ford loading lumber under the chute in Mendocino Harbor, c. 1985. Photo from the Alice Earl Wilder Collection, courtesy Kelley House Museum. If there is only one vessel the Kelley House can feature during its current nautical exhibit, the Schooner J. C. Ford is a good choice. In the May 20, 1882 issue of the “Mendocino Beacon” newspaper, it was reported the new three-masted [...]
The big trees in the background reveal that these festival goers were not at Woodstock, but rather the Albion People’s Fair, a few years later. They are Katy and David Tahja on the right and Susan Alban and Wesley Stoft on the left. On the August weekend in 1969 that saw nearly half a million children of God on their way to Yasgur’s farm in [...]
Dancing at a picnic on the Albion River with the Stevens, Gray and Pullen families. (Kelley House Museum Photo Archives, gift of Steve & Sue Sanor) When the dancers start busting their moves at the up-coming Woodstock 50th Anniversary Dance Party at Crown Hall on August 17th, they will not only be celebrating the golden jubilee of that iconic rock festival, but also taking their places [...]