National Register of Historic Places in Mendocino County
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Main Street in Mendocino Fronting the Pacific Ocean
Mendocino played the role of the fictional town of Cabot Cove in the television series Murder, She Wrote.
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Except for a few buildings, Main Street, fronting the Pacific Ocean, provides a panorama of Victorian times.
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The water towers were built at the end of the 19th century. Unlike Fort Bragg, Mendocino has no central water supply to this day so many of the original towers are still in use. Before electricity the water was pumped up to the towers by windmills.
3 May 2022
(Click Photos to Enlarge)
Mendocino and Headlands Historic District
Bounded Roughly By the Pacific Ocean, Little Lake Street and Coast Highway
Mendocino
Founded 1851
Founded in 1851, Mendocino was the first of a number of lumber towns on the northern California coast including Gualala, Anchor Bay, Elk, Point Arena, and Fort Bragg. While some buildings date back to 1852, most were built between 1860 and 1900.
The nomination, submitted only five years after the National Register of Historic Places was created in 1966, does not itemize all buildings that contribute to the district, but it does cite a few: the Presbyterian Church, the Masonic Hall, the MacCallum House, the Chinese Joss House and Hotel Row on Main Street.
Mendocino Headlines became a state park in 1974.
Ford House was individually listed on the register in 2010.
This early nomination for an entire town and coastal headlands was only eight pages long. By contrast, a nomination submitted in 1997 for Mendocino Woodlands Recreational Demonstration Area contained 55 pages and itemized 92 buildings and 88 structures including tents, fences, phone booths, retaining walls, camp fire circles, and trails.