In the unbelievably picturesque Village of Mendocino, every structure speaks of history, from the redwood water towers to the fences and houses, whose wood is weathered by the salt air, fog, and wind.  It’s no wonder that the town has stood in for New England on the television show “Murder, She Wrote” and played itself and other coastal towns in so many movies. Mendocino now makes its own film history, with an annual film festival every May.

The Ford and Kelley House Museums in the Village and the tours and exhibits they offer are great starting points for learning about this unique town’s fascinating past.

The Mendocino Art Center, overlooking the ocean from a rise on the Mendocino Headlands, is another good starting point, this time for taking the pulse of the present day art colony that thrives on the North Coast, enriched by the history of the artists who founded it in the late 1950s.

Just north of the Village, Point Cabrillo Preserve, a unit of California State Parks, includes the historic 1909 Light Station (30.5 acres), and approximately 270 acres of undeveloped coastal bluffs and prairie. The buildings have won awards for their meticulous restoration and are worth a visit by themselves, in addition to being an excellent vantage point for watching wayward whales. The lighthouse also includes a gift shop and museum.

Once a thriving fishing port with an ocean front lumber mill (now closed), Fort Bragg provides spectacular Rock Walks, a wide variety of culinary experiences and a vibrant art scene. Seen in the neighborhoods of Fort Bragg are prime examples of early 1900’s Craftsman architecture and remarkably intact alleys dating from when the  City was incorporated in 1889. Noyo Harbor Beach features the Coast’s only dog beach.  Dogs are very welcome in Fort Bragg with their own off-leash dog park  and on-leash trails to enjoy at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.

Fort Bragg is also home to the only coastal botanical gardens in the lower 48, the stunning Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, 47 acres of serenity on the sea. Famous for their rhododendrons and annual mushroom-identification walks in season, the gardens also boast a dense coastal pine forest, native flora and habitats, fern-covered canyons, camellias, magnolias and conifers, heaths and heathers, and flower-filled coastal bluffs overlooking the ocean.

The Skunk Train is one of the most popular visitor attractions in California’s North Coast and considered to be one of the ten most scenic rail trips in North America.  Except for the passengers' high-tech cameras and modern garb, a time traveler from the last century would feel quite at home riding on California Western Railroad’s Skunk Train today. The view is all but unchanged:  towering trees, deer drinking from the Noyo River, an isolated fisherman's cabin peeking from the forest. With occasional whistles as it chugs through tunnels, over bridges and past open meadows, the train follows the same coastal "Redwood Route" as it has since 1885.  Trains depart from both Fort Bragg and Willits.