The village of Mendocino was designated as a National Historic Preservation District in 1971. It’s small and quaint. It’s also been the setting for more than 40 movies since 1904. A few classic movies that were filmed here include “Frenchman’s Creek (1943), “Johnny Belinda” (1947), “East of Eden” (1954), “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming” (1965), and “Cujo” (1982).
I’m going to suggest to Jack that we put these on our Netflix queue so we can identify the places that we’re visiting while we’re here. Besides, old movies – especially classics like these – are fun to watch.
I was flabbergasted to learn that Mendocino was the setting for the television series “Murder, She Wrote” with Angela Lansbury (1984 – 1989)! It was supposedly set on the East coast…in New England… in a town called Cabot Cove but nine episodes were actually filmed in Mendocino. I will admit I really enjoyed that show. It was well done and could actually be watched by the entire family – yep, totally “G” rated and that was before ratings were used!
I took a couple of photos of Blair House (Jessica Fletcher's home) and the Hill House of Cabot Cove which were featured in the series and are still alive and well in Mendocino. Once you’ve visited Mendocino, though, you can see why it was chosen.
The town has its architectural roots in New England because of the “homesick” pioneers who came here to be part of the lumber boom in the 1850’s. There are cottages and Victorian homes with abundant gingerbread filigree mouldings, steep gables and picket fences.
We’re going to be digging around Mendocino – I want to see all there is to see – and then we’re going to hunt up some of the wineries that abound in Mendocino County.
Stay tuned.
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