Welcome to Kelley House Museum!

About the Kelley House Museum

The mission of the Kelley House Museum is to collect, preserve and share the rich history of the Mendocino Coast. Founded in 1972, Kelley House Museum, Inc. maintains a beautiful house museum and gardens, as well as the Mendocino Coast’s only museum-quality storage facility and staffed research office. Our research archives represent over 150 years of Mendocino coastal history. Collections include historic photo collections, local genealogical data, research documents and publications. Over 3000 entries of maps, documents, books, photographs, oral histories and artifacts from our collection are searchable through our site.

The Kelley House Museum is an historic house museum in the heart of Mendocino, California, a picturesque town of 1,000 people. The home was built in 1861 by William Kelly (sp), one of Mendocino’s founding fathers, and now contains 19th Century furniture. The ocean-view home sits on an acre of gardens, with a pond and three resident geese. William had the pond built and stocked so that the neighborhood children could fish.

Did You Know?

We offer Walking Tours of the Mendocino National Historic Preservation District. Tours leave from the Kelley House Museum every Saturday and Sunday at 11 am, and last for 1 1/2 hours.

History Mystery

Wonacott's Studio Unknown Couple

Unknown Mendocino Coast Couple

Unknown Mendocino Coast couple taken at Wonacott’s Studio in Fort Bragg. Circa 1920 – 1930

 

Father Time and the Maiden Big River Logjam Racing on the Mendocino Headlands in the 1930s The J.M.Griffith in Mendocino Bay Kwan Tai Temple Loggers working a Tall Redwood Closeup of Loggers on a Redwood Point Cabrillo Lighthouse Wells Fargo Stage in Mendocino Logging Camp on Big River

Around the House
—Director’s Blog—

A Sunday Afternoon With

June 14th, 2013 by nancy

A Sunday Afternoon With…The Mendocino Music Festival
By Katy Tahja

If an instrument can be struck, plucked, blown, scrapped, strummed, or picked, it has probably been played at the biggest summer party of the year – the Mendocino Music Festival. On June 23 at 3 p.m. at the Kelley House “A Sunday Afternoon With…” organizers, performers and music lovers of the Festival will gather to share memories of twenty-seven years of music.

Allan Pollack and Susan Waterfall, along with Carolyn Steinbuck, Barbara Faulkner, and Marcia Lotter, will share stories about special moments in music festival history along with exhibiting photos, programs and memorabilia.

Join us at the Kelley House on Sunday, June 23, for a sneak peek into the behind-the-scenes stories that make the festival a magical summer experience. Light refreshment will be served. Cost is $5 for members and $7 for non-members.

Celebrating the 4th

July 12th, 2012 by nancy

Join us on the Kelley House Museum lawn to enjoy the parade and dance to the music of The Mixed Nuts on Wednesday, July 4th. Delicious food, yummy ice cream and plenty of beer will be on hand.

Kelley House Lawn

July 4th on the Kelley House Lawn

July 4 cooksJuly 4th BBQ

A Sunday Afternoon With…Sinker Logging

May 24th, 2013 by nancy

Anyone who is interested in a truly unique version of logging on the Mendocino Coast will want to attend the Kelley House Museum’s “Sunday Afternoon with…Sinker Logging” on Sunday, May 26. Loggers Tony Crowell and Jon Ramsey will join us to share information about their salvage experiences.

On Big River, Albion and Navarro rivers, logs were floated downstream to the lumber mills at ocean’s edge. However, not all the logs made it to the mill. Some sank in the river beds, hence the name “sinkers.” In the 1990s, a new breed of loggers went looking for these sinkers. Salvage logging kept hardy crews of individuals employed until environmental restrictions ended this process in the late 1990s.

Come hear Crowell and Ramsey share stories of their adventures on Sunday, May 26, at 3 pm. Light refreshment will be served. Cost is $5 for members and $7 for non-members. Past programs are for sale. Kelley House Museum, 45007 Albion St., Mendocino, 707-937-5791

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