When the Baltimore clipper Frolic wrecked on the Mendocino Coast in 1850 while returning from China with a cargo of porcelain and silk bound for booming Gold Rush San Francisco, it came to rest in a cove north of today’s Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. As the crew abandoned ship, they gathered what provisions they could. Six sailors refused to leave the rigging and were left behind, while [...]
It was common years ago to report to the local newspaper if you had managed to grow the “biggest” of anything. From historian Nannie Escola’s newspaper clippings, we found attention directed to the “biggest” things around Mendocino. Vegetable and fruit display at Apple Hall, 1912. In November 1878, E.C. Toushes of Navarro brought in three cabbages weighing 22, 25, and 26 ¾ pounds to [...]
Elsie Allen, 1972. Born in 1899 near Santa Rosa, Elsie Allen was a fourth-generation basket weaver taught by her mother and grandmother. Elsie’s mother, Annie Burke, was a renowned weaver, and together they would travel to art fairs to show baskets. Tradition dictated that a weaver’s baskets be buried with her or a relative whenever she died. When Elsie’s grandmother passed, Elsie lost many [...]
Jane Ralston Ross is remembered as one of the Mendocino Coast’s most remarkable pioneer women, a source of strength, compassion, and Christian devotion. She was born in Glengarry, Ontario, Canada, on January 29, 1837, to Scottish parents, and shared with her husband, Rev. John Simpson Ross, a deep sense of faith and service. The couple married in 1863, and their first three children were born in [...]
The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming is turning 60! This beloved comedy was filmed almost entirely on the coast, including Mendocino, Noyo, Cleone, and Westport. Mendocino so closely resembles an east coast village that it was the backdrop for the movie village of Gloucester Island, Massachusetts. The film depicts the aftermath of a Soviet submarine running aground off the small New England island, and [...]
Syd Newman, Lena Meshishnek and Faye Lang at the Keene Summit AWS in Comptche, circa 1943. The Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) was a civilian service of the United States Army Air Force Ground Observer Corps begun during World War II to keep watch for enemy planes entering United States airspace. The Kelley House Museum has a few photographs and one archival item to help [...]
Arthur “Art” Lemos was born in Mendocino on January 21, 1905, the eldest son of Antone B. and Emily (Brown) Lemos. His father had immigrated from the island of Flores in the Azores as a child and learned the barber trade in Boston. A talented linguist who spoke four languages, Antone worked as both a barber and an interpreter before coming to Mendocino in 1902. Soon [...]
Prescription for W. H. Norton, 1875. (Kelley House Collection) This handwritten prescription from December 13, 1875 offers a fascinating glimpse into everyday life and medical care in early Mendocino. It was written by Dr. William A. McCornack, a young physician who had moved to the coast just the year before. Dr. McCornack quickly became a prominent local doctor and later founded the first hospital [...]
Grace “Gwenlian” MacCallum, c. 1904. (Gift of Linda Mechling, The Nannie Escola Collection) Gwenlian MacCallum Yonce’s story begins with loss, love, and a promise. Born Grace MacCallum, she was only seven years old when her father died in 1904 and her mother became terminally ill. During this family crisis, her aunt by marriage, Daisy MacCallum of Mendocino, stepped in. Daisy wrote a heartfelt letter [...]
On April 26, 2009, the Kelley House Museum hosted Dr. Don Hahn and Dr. Jim Swallow to discuss practicing medicine in Mendocino over the years. The following is Dr. Hahn retelling a few stories about house calls he made in the 1960s and 1970s. To watch the full discussion, visit the Kelley House Museum YouTube page. Dr. Don Hahn in his office. (Photographer: Tobin Hahn) [...]