Welcome to Kelley House Museum!

About the Kelley House Museum

The mission of the Kelley House Museum is to collect, preserve and share the rich history of the Mendocino Coast. Founded in 1972, Kelley House Museum, Inc. maintains a beautiful house museum and gardens, as well as the Mendocino Coast’s only museum-quality storage facility and staffed research office. Our research archives represent over 150 years of Mendocino coastal history. Collections include historic photo collections, local genealogical data, research documents and publications. Over 3000 entries of maps, documents, books, photographs, oral histories and artifacts from our collection are searchable through our site.

The Kelley House Museum is an historic house museum in the heart of Mendocino, California, a picturesque town of 1,000 people. The home was built in 1861 by William Kelly (sp), one of Mendocino’s founding fathers, and now contains 19th Century furniture. The ocean-view home sits on an acre of gardens, with a pond and three resident geese. William had the pond built and stocked so that the neighborhood children could fish.

Did You Know?

We offer Walking Tours of the Mendocino National Historic Preservation District. Tours leave from the Kelley House Museum every Saturday at 11 am, and last for an hour and a half.

History Mystery

John Uhlar captured this image of a waitress at the Bay View Cafe in the late 1970's. Who is this lovely lady?

John Uhlar captured this image of a waitress at the Bay View Cafe in the late 1970's. Who is this lovely lady?

 

Father Time and the Maiden Big River Logjam Racing on the Mendocino Headlands in the 1930s The J.M.Griffith in Mendocino Bay Kwan Tai Temple Loggers working a Tall Redwood Closeup of Loggers on a Redwood Point Cabrillo Lighthouse Wells Fargo Stage in Mendocino Logging Camp on Big River

Around the House

Conversations with Marie Nelson

January 28th, 2010 by nancy

The Kelley House will host a talk by Marie Nelson on “How Historic Preservation Matters” on Thursday, February 11 at 4 pm. The Heritage Days of Mendocino County 2010 Committee is honored to announce a visit to the Coast by State Historian Marie Nelson of the CA Office of Historic Preservation in Sacramento. Ms. Nelson is the Historic Resources Survey Coordinator for the State of California and provides historic guidance to consultants and land use planners.

Enjoy tea and coffee at 3:30 pm and talking with Marie at 4 pm. There is no charge to attend. For information please call Heritage Days of Mendocino County 2010 Committee member Ruth Sparks at 961-1881.

A big “thank you” to the Mendocino Hotel for donating accommodations to Marie during her stay.

Oh, My Aching Beak

January 28th, 2010 by nancy

By Rhett, The Kelley House Goose

I really appreciate all the concern expressed by the community over the last several weeks regarding the delicate condition of my beak. My friend and Kelley House Board member, Loretta McCoard, took me to see veterinarian Karen Novak at her new office in Mendocino. As best as Karen can tell, I somehow picked up a fungus, which infected my beak. Loretta is helping me take my antibiotics and monitoring my condition. (She sneaks the pills into my bread, and I pretend not to notice.)

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