Page 61 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2021 DISCOVERING MENDOCINO

there, they named the place Meiggsville. Later it village’s Northern East Coast-type architecture.
became Big River and eventually Mendocino. But the Gold Rush brought people from around
Visitors can find artifacts from the mill and his- the world, including Portuguese from the Azores
toric town at the Ford House Museum in the vil- and immigrants from China. Today, on Albion
lage. Exhibits of old photographs, tools, and relics Street, visitors can admire a Chinese Taoist Tem-
tell the story of the redwood timber industry and ple of Kwan Tai constructed in 1854.
the seafarers that plied coastal waters. There’s The early settlers piped freshwater to their
also displays of Native American tools and culture houses, drawing power from large windmills
and seasonal exhibits showcasing local flora and mounted on water towers attached to their
fauna. homes. Along the village’s streets, we passed sev-
Like the native Indians, early settlers were eral water towers (minus their blades), now proud
drawn by the region’s natural resources. Many of symbols of the town and its history. Some surviv-
the early arrivals were New Englanders, hence the ing water towers recently have been converted

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