William Wetherbee Gibbs, whose nickname was “Sam Slick,” operated a saloon out of the front of his Main Street home in the 1870s. Originally, built about 1866, Sam Slick’s Saloon was located just west of the Mendocino Hotel, in the space now occupied by its restaurant. When Mr. Gibbs died, his widow, Petta Van Treat, leased the saloon in 1883 to Jacob Hanson, who named it the Buffalo Saloon. In his advertisements, he invited his friends and the general public learn more…

The Kelley House Museum is on the lookout for a local stamp collector who can help them evaluate three albums of First Day Stamp Covers. An inquiring mind might ask, “What is a First Day Cover?”  With the debut of new U.S. postage stamp designs, people can, for one single day, go to a post office and buy an envelope and on it would be the new stamp cancelled (postmarked) with the day’s date. Some enthusiasts never missed the issuing learn more…

Last year, the Kelley House was the lucky recipient of numerous items from the David J. Russell Estate. His generous children, Ann, David, Libby and Peter, offered us boxes of photographic prints and scanned negatives that capture their father’s fascination with the Mendocino Coast, (including the activities of the Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department), as well as maps and surveys he had made in his role as a surveyor. They also gave us many copies of “Big River News,” which was learn more…

Two images, taken almost 100 years apart, showing the house located on the southeast corner of Howard and Ukiah Streets in Mendocino.  A Category I historical structure, it was designed and built in 1883 by A. F. Carmichael as a residence for restauranteur and hotel owner W. T. Wilson. Starting in 1887, Dr. William McCornack rented the structure and operated the co-operative Mendocino Hospital there until 1895, when he moved the hospital to Main Street in a building next to learn more…

Kelley House docents David and Katy Tahja are rockhounds. Their idea of a perfect day is being out in the middle of no place with interesting rock samples peeking out of an easily accessible creek bed. Their explorations have taken them to the empty back country of California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, following leads they gleaned from books, maps, websites, government publications, and word-of-mouth. While both of them took geology in college, neither consider themselves geologists. Says Katy, “We’re learn more…