J. D. Mayhew models the Save The Whales T-shirt he designed for the Mendocino Whale War. He was aboard the Whale War boat Phyllis Cormack in San Francisco preparing to go on the 1976 anti-whaling voyage. (Photographer: Nicholas Wilson) Each year when the Mendocino Coast Whale Festival kicks off, I am filled with memories of my artist grandfather, J.D. Mayhew. He fell in love [...]
On Wednesday, January 20, 1886, a fierce storm battered the Mendocino coast, leaving destruction in its wake both on land and at sea. Strong winds and relentless rain swept through the region before gradually subsiding. According to the Beacon, the storm “broke upon us quite suddenly, although the cold weather and extremely low barometer of the three previous days were the sure harbingers of an approaching [...]
These two photographs, taken 40 years apart, show the John & Annie Maria Silveria House located at 10470 Kelly Street in Mendocino. This home was built in 1916 by Pete Hansen and Ray Valentine for John and Annie Maria Silveria. John and Annie Maria Silveria House, 1985. (Photographer: Bill Wagner) John and Annie Maria Silveria House, 2025. (Photographer: Robert Dominy) Annie [...]
Look Tin Eli and his brother, Look Poong Shan, in a photograph taken at a Fort Bragg studio circa 1900. (Photographer: W. T. Fitch; Gift of Mrs. Archie Gordon in 1973) With birthright citizenship everywhere in the news these days, it’s an opportune time to remember the local boy who set the first legal precedent in the process that led to the 1898 U.S. [...]
On November 5, 1917, the steamer Prentiss met with a catastrophic accident while loading cargo at Albion when a sudden and powerful southwest swell caused the ship to crash into the wharf. Despite Captain Iverson and his crew’s efforts to maneuver the vessel into open waters, the strong undertow dragged the stern line into the propeller, leaving the Prentiss helpless. Steamer Prentiss Ashore at Albion, [...]
It was pouring rain on February 1st when Averee McNear arrived in town to start her new job at the Kelley House, and it’s been pretty much nonstop for a week now, but she claims it hasn’t diluted her eagerness to settle in. Moist gloom is part of the Mendocino vibe, after all, so she’s determined to make it her friend. Most recently, she lived in [...]
Evergreen Cemetery, Mendocino, California. February 2025. (Photographer: Robert Dominy) Today! 11AM - Walking Tour of the Mendocino Historic District. $25. The Kelley House Museum is open from 11AM to 3PM Friday through Sunday. Come by to see our current exhibit on the Northern Pomo.
William Wetherby Gibb, born in Calais, Maine circa 1826, came to this coast about 1854. He had been a lumberman in Maine, and in Mendocino he was employed by the California Lumber Manufacturing Company. Gibb may have worked his way up to the lumber company office, for in the 1860s, possibly as late as 1867 or '68, he was sent to Chile "to track down a [...]