The Kelley House Museum loves a good history mystery, and recently we had a query about a redwood sculpture named “Kelley’s Girl.” The correspondent said all he knew was that his parents had purchased the statue in Mendocino in the early 1970s. Did Kelley’s Girl have something to do with Mendocino’s Kelley family, or did the museum have other information about it?
At first, no one knew what to make of the few facts presented. There were no mermaids in the Kelley family, as far as we know! But gradually, with the help of creative digital newspaper searching, a very interesting story emerged. It turns out the piece was sculpted by a local wood artist named Stanley R. Kelley, a dapper gentleman who is still part of our community. He was also the architect and builder of the famous Round House that stood for 30 years on Caspar Beach.
Back in October of 1973, Kelley’s large and graceful mermaid carving was stolen while on display in front of Gallery West, located at the west end of Main Street, where Mendocino Sandpiper is now. A few days later, the sculpture, valued at $700, was found near Pearl Drive by a Fort Bragg resident looking for mushrooms. However, the lower part of the mermaid’s tail was broken off and missing.
It was still a wonderful statue, though, so Kelley did some trimming around her “knees” and he showed it, along with other works, at the Mendocino County Historical Museum in Willits, where it went by the title “Madonna.” Later he mounted it on a concrete pedestal, and it became for a few months a central feature in the garden at the Mendocino Hotel (later closed in to create the Garden Bar).
Perhaps that is where Doug Colton and his wife first encountered the five-foot sculpture. Wherever they saw her, they loved her, and decided to take her home with them to Reno, Nevada. The statue’s March, 1974 departure from the coast even merited a short article in the Mendocino Beacon, which is where we found the details that solved the mystery.
We sent the newspaper clipping to Perry Colton, who was overjoyed to know the story behind one of his most prized possessions. He provided us with a faded snapshot of his smiling parents standing on Main Street with their new acquisition, and another photo of the art piece displayed in his home. To make the story’s ending even happier, the artist will be getting in touch with the Colton family to talk more about “Kelley’s Girl.”
We’d love to answer your questions about Mendocino! Contact info@KelleyHouseMuseum.org and we’ll use our extensive files, databases, and expertise to do just that. The Kelley House Museum is open from 11AM to 3PM Thursday through Monday. Walking Tours of Mendocino are available throughout the week. Visit the Kelley House Event Calendar for a Walking Tour schedule.