The Village of
MENDOCINO
ROY DUFRAIN JR.
HISTORIC VILLAGE BY THE SEA
Embraced by grassy meadows and the blue Pacific on three
sides, adorned to the south by an ever-changing sculpture of river,
sea, and sand, the village of Mendocino is surrounded by stunning natural beauty and age-old patterns of life. Seabirds nest on
nearby islands as they have for thousands of years, whales swim by
on their primordial migrations, and river otters play and procreate
in Big River.
Decades of caring by the people who live here have preserved
the splendor of Mendocino and its surroundings. Mildred Benioff
and Emmy Lou Packard protected the headlands from development with the creation of Mendocino Headlands State Park in
1972. Thirty years later another prodigious effort saved the Big
River watershed, where one can peacefully walk, bike, or kayak
along a lovely and protected estuarial river.
The Mendocino Art Center began attracting artists from all
over the world in the late ‘ 50’s. Their imaginative spirits resulted
in a blooming of all the arts: poetry and theater, sculpture and
painting, opera and folk music. One such flowering is the now-renowned Mendocino Music Festival.
Mendocino’s Historical Review Board ensures that the village
remains a tranquil and historic place to walk, shop, dine, lodge,
and relax. Note the absence of fast food chains, box stores, and
supermarkets. Nor are there billboards, traffic lights, or parking
structures.
What makes a village a village? Old wooden buildings?
Colorful rambling gardens and roads with uncertain edges?
Water towers and old-fashioned steeple churches? Whatever it is,
Mendocino’s got it!
