by Tonia Hurst The last native turkey of California (Meleagris. californica) foraged here more than 10,000 years ago, and what we know of it comes to us only through the fossil record. It disappeared probably due to climate change. Had you wanted a Thanksgiving turkey more than one hundred years ago, you would have bought one or raised one of your own. The native bird, where [...]
The Kelley House will offer extra historic walking tours over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The tours will cover the same sites as the regular Saturday and Sunday tours and will begin at 11:00 a.m. The cost is $10 per person. Tours will be offered on the following dates: Thursday and Friday, November 24 and 25 Daily, Friday, December 23 through Sunday, January 1
by Tonia Hurst A drifting skiff and an attentive night watchman kicked off one of Mendocino County’s strangest maritime mysteries one quiet afternoon in 1921. Around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 13th, had you been looking out to sea, you might have noticed a boat racing towards Mendocino Bay from a distance due west. She pulled into harbor and drew close to the blowhole, where her [...]
by Tonia Hurst If you visit the Kelley House Museum Archives and go down the short flight of stairs into the chilly vault, it’s not hard to imagine you are diving for knowledge—especially where abalone are concerned. Should you chance to don a pair of white gloves and take a look through the old, bound copies of The Beacon, the public’s concerns over the misuse of [...]
by Tonia Hurst What do people and sea otters have in common? Well, for one thing, the love of a particular single-shelled mollusk more commonly known as the abalone. What many people don’t realize is how Mendocino became a premier location for abalone fishing, nor do they realize how lucky we are that our wise predecessors conserved this resource for us—their future generation. Delicious and desirable, [...]
by Tonia Hurst Living on the coast has its advantages and such was the case on the morning of October 17, 1924, when the mighty USS Shenandoah flew over Mendocino en route to Fort Lewis, Washington. The first of four U.S. Navy rigid airships, the Shenandoah was built between 1922 and 1923 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, and modeled after the Zeppelin L-49. Her infrastructure was built [...]
A membership to the Kelley House Museum is a wonderful holiday gift. Memberships start at $35.00/year for the whole family. Put someone you care about on the path to learning our local history. Click here for a membership form. We’ll send you or the recipient (whichever you prefer) a lovely card letting them know of your gift.