This last month, the Kelley House received an interesting request from innkeeper Ken Taylor for an historic map that would show the grounds of the Joshua Grindle House. Our go-to vintage maps are the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, but the northeast part of Mendocino, where the Grindle House is located, showed only a portion of his property. Mendocino City. Detail from the 1909 U. S. Coast [...]
What in the world are the women in this photograph doing? Young women practicing their broom maneuvers. Pictured (not in order): Harriet “Hattie” Powell (Peggy Quaid’s great grandmother), Grace Monroe, Minnie Gates, Maggie Arthur, Marnie Conway, Mary Bowlin, Miss Reed, Sutie Howins, Anna Westover, Lily Kimball, Miss Sawyer, Estell Taylor, Rose Purcell. (Photo courtesy of Peggy Quaid, Kelley House Museum) This is one of four curious [...]
Katy Tahja’s article a couple of weeks ago about the Point Cabrillo Auto Court got me wondering about other auto courts and where people used to spend their nights when visiting the Mendocino coast. The Lazy Eye Cottages, c. 1932-1950. Cars and people could lodge together in this early day auto court along Highway 1, south of Little River. Now called The Inn at Schoolhouse Creek. [...]
The 2020 Fourth of July will not be the celebration we were hoping for. The expected parade along thronged streets, and the music-filled lawn party in front of the Kelley House – enjoyed by hundreds for more than 30 years – has been cancelled for public health reasons. We will have to celebrate our country’s birthday in other, less crowded ways. Mendocino’s 1883 4th of July [...]
Indeed, the Museum is temporarily closed, and our walking tours are parked for the time being. Even the traditional July the Fourth Lawn Party has been cancelled because of the precautions related to the pandemic. But there are still things happening at the Kelley House. Advertisement - Mendocino had many fine builders in the its early years, such as William Riley Hamilton who constructed at least [...]
One of the most attractive spots in town at present is the little lake on the grounds of Mr. W. H. Kelly’s residence on Main Street. It is full to overflowing of clear water, while around its banks the calla lilies are blooming in all their beauty. A miniature sailboat gracefully skimming over the water adds to the picturesque scene. --Mendocino Beacon, 16 January 1886 This [...]
Last week I did my citizen’s duty and completed my response to the 2020 Census using just my phone, while sitting on the sofa. So easy. It took less than 10 minutes. I enumerated myself. This got me thinking about how counting everybody correctly used to be a really hard thing to do. And who, I wondered, did the enumeration back then? Whoever they were, the [...]
Dear Friends and Supporters, It is with regret that the Kelley House Museum has temporarily closed its doors until further notice due to public health considerations. The popular guided walking tours have also been suspended. However, we still have much to offer our patrons! Self-guided audio walking tours can be rented for just $10 per tablet. These are available at the Museum between 10:00 am and [...]
Residence of Mr. Freundt, City of Mendocino (1863), looking north-northeast. This is a copy of a Carleton Watkins image found in the Bancroft Library. Not long after Mendocino was founded, the men who built and owned the Big River sawmill went back east to New England and brought their families here to live. While many of the merchants in town resided above their stores, the people [...]
We are featuring here again excerpts from the oral history project that was created 20 years ago by the students of Ryan Olson Day’s Options Class at the Mendocino Middle School. With the help of Steven Jordan and a grant obtained by Deena Zarlin, they made audio recordings of their interviews with 12 “Old Timers,” who told these children what it was like in Mendocino during [...]