Studio portrait of C. Coyle, likely Catherine Coyle, who owned the boarding house on the northwest corner of Kasten and Ukiah. (Gift of Emery Escola) In celebration of Women’s History Month, here is an excerpt from the Kelley House publication From Maidens to Mavericks: Mendocino’s Women, Mendocino Historical Review Volume XXIX, written by local author, Molly Dwyer. The book can be purchased in the [...]
Originally printed in the Mendocino Art Center’s Fall 2003 Arts & Entertainment magazine Every March the annual Mendocino Coast Whale Festival celebrates the migration of the Pacific Gray Whales with their newborn calves from western Baja to the Bering Sea. But this celebration would not be possible without the 1976 Mendocino Whale Wars that helped to save the then-endangered species. The following is an excerpt spotlighting [...]
Until the 1870s, the Mendocino coast was isolated except for the schooners that sailed between San Francisco and Eureka. Travel inland was on foot or by horseback over narrow ridge trails worn by the local native peoples. During the 1860s, roads began to be built between Mendocino and Ukiah and Mendocino and Cloverdale. According to Elsa E. Thompson’s 1973 Early Settlers of Comptche Along Its Many [...]
Part 3 of our “dark and stormy night” series, this article continues the story from last week’s column and first appeared in the Mendocino Beacon on December 6, 2007 When we left the storm-battered little steamer Pomo, she and her rescue boat, Adeline Smith, were waiting to cross the treacherous seas at the bar to San Francisco Bay on the night of January 2, 1914 [the [...]
Given our recent weather, we’re continuing the “dark and stormy night” theme from last week with this article that first appeared in the Mendocino Beacon on August 30, 2007. Captain Orlando "Ole" Lilleland was master of the wooden steam schooner Pomo, which operated along the Mendocino coast hauling redwood and farm goods south and general freight north. Pomo was of modest size, built to be handy [...]
A long-time pillar of the Kelley House passed away in early December, and we wish to acknowledge her work for the museum and the community it serves. Both as a tireless volunteer and a dedicated employee, Megan Coddington Smith did much to make the Kelley House Museum the institution it is today. Megan was born in Lawton, Oklahoma in January 1942, the youngest of four children, [...]
Exhibit runs through 11/27/2022 Members only reception and viewing Friday, October 21 at 5:00 PM “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes." Dr. James Milliken’s casket in the parlor of the Milliken house, in 1909 The Kelley House Museum invites you to explore one of life's certainties—death—through a new exhibit on funeral customs followed throughout Mendocino’s history. Far from [...]
August 14, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM $5 members/$7 non-members Illustrators have long been a vibrant part of the Mendocino art community. The Kelley House is excited to interview several whose work in the ‘70s and ‘80s appears as part of the Cat Mother exhibit currently on display in the museum. Mervin Gilbert, author of the comic collection Life in the Northwest Nowhere will talk about [...]
Walking or sitting, you will pick up some fascinating facts in two new tours for history lovers at the Kelley House Museum. David and Katy Tahja, a team of Kelley House docents from Comptche, have developed tours about the areas of Mendocino history that interest each of them most. Beginning on July 10th, David will lead a two-hour walking tour called “Stump to Ship: Logging in [...]
The Kelley House pays tribute to legendary local ‘70s band Cat Mother and their impact on the Mendocino Coast with a collection of ephemera, albums, artwork, and articles. Cat Mother was an eclectic rock band formed in Greenwich Village, New York in 1967. They toured with Jimi Hendrix who co-produced their first album which featured the hit "Good Old Rock N Roll" in 1969. By 1970 [...]