Born Annie McGuire on March 21, 1877, Annie’s legacy has profound impact on the Kelley House Museum today. Annie’s parents, James and Rose McGuire, were Irish immigrants who married in San Francisco in 1870. The family lived in Mendocino a brief time before James died after a short illness. Rose and Mary, John’s eldest child from his first marriage, took over providing for the family by [...]
There are tales, harrowing stories, which have been told and re-told for 171 years about the ship that sucked into the blow hole in Mendocino Bay. Are they true? Sidebar – we are not talking about the blow hole with a fence around it at The Point on the Mendocino Headlands. But, if you stand there, then turn eastward and look across the Bay at the [...]
A PEEK INTO OUR ARCHIVES October is American Archives month, a “nationwide effort to highlight the importance of archives, archivists, and the countless stories preserved in our collections.” We asked our volunteers and staff to share a favorite item in our collection in the hopes they might pique your own curiosity. “My favorite collection in the archives is our photographic collection. A picture is worth a [...]
October is American Archives Month, which is a nationwide effort to “highlight the importance of archives, archivists, and the countless stories preserved in our collections.” The Kelley House Museum has had an archive for decades and now boasts a collection of over 10,000 items. The following article was written by Anne Cooper in 2018, discussing some of the archival items at the Kelley House. Do you [...]
Protect Your Coast flyer, circa 1988. The current Kelley House exhibit “Art of Resistance” documents the history of political and social activism in Mendocino. When talking with locals about the exhibit, one subject is mentioned almost above all else: the 1980s oil drilling protests. In 2007, Rachel Binah spoke at the Kelley House Museum about the 1980s fight to preserve the coast. Binah estimates [...]
One of the men who arrived in Mendocino and helped establish it as a logging town was John Edward Chalfant. Like so many others, he came to California during the heady days of the Gold Rush. He wasn’t successful as a miner, but he happened to run into Jerome B. Ford in San Francisco. Mr. Chalfant married Martha Hayes Ford’s sister, Susan. They settled into a [...]
With Netflix’s new adaptation of East of Eden premiering today, it’s a perfect time to revisit Mendocino’s connection to the original 1955 film. This movie starred James Dean as Cal Trask, and was filmed in and around Mendocino, transforming the town into the fictional Salinas Valley community of Monterey. This article was originally published in March 2025. James Dean was the Timothée Chalamet of his generation. [...]
Rob Hawthorn sharing ghost stories at the Mendocino Hotel. When I moved to Mendocino in 1995, I lived in a fantastic two-story Victorian with a water tower, built sometime before 1880. I was already a history buff and a fan of ghost stories, so when my mother-in-law started talking about sensing a “mysterious presence” at the top of the stairwell, I was over the [...]
In late December of 1916, near the Boom on Big River, the cast and crew of a new silent film began work on their latest project. The Promise, produced by the Yorke Film Corporation and distributed by Metro Pictures, was one of a series of movies featuring the pairing of two popular actors: Harold Lockwood and May Allison. Lantern slide for “The Promise,” 1916. (Gift of [...]
Think activism in Mendocino started with the hippies in the ’60s? Think again! Mendocino boasts a long history of political and social activism, and the Kelley House Museum’s latest exhibit showcases the powerful art that has demanded change across the eras. Marvel at the artistry behind historic posters for women’s suffrage, the Whale War boycott, and the Peace Fair. Have a laugh at the anti-war napkin [...]