Mendocino Presbyterian Church Looms over Big River Beach in the Fog. The Church is on the National Historic Register, and has wonderful acoustics for singing.

Having sung in the sanctuary many times now, it’s a wonderful place to enjoy music for an hour — the acoustics are absolutely fabulous, and the choir is sounding great! The program includes Mozart’s Te Deum, written when he was 16. There’s a fun (and challenging) song by P.D.Q. Bach (1807-1742), and others by Dvorak and Sibelius. They are also performing a challenging number called “Daemon Irrepit Callidus” by Gyorgy Orban. It’s one of those pieces where you will either love it or hate it, but you will admire the choir for tackling it. All in all, there’s a nice variety of music. The choir will be joined by the Mendocino Brass Ensemble on the final number, and the Trebl’d Women will also be performing.

The Kelley House Museum’s historic walking tours will also take you by the church if you just want to see this lovely old building. They are doing tours this weekend as part of Heritage Days, which runs through the end of May. On Sunday, the walking tour will visit the 150-year-old Masonic Temple in Mendocino. If you’ve ever been to Mendocino, it’s the building with the large white statue on top called Father Time and the Maiden. The tour takes you inside the temple, and you are allowed to take pictures.

About 40 people attended the May 7 event at $75 / person. The atmosphere was upbeat, participants in a good mood and a lot of good conversations going on between the small group. Everyone I spoke to thought it was a great event and can’t wait for next year. The proceeds go to help restoration projects for the Ford House.

On August 7, First Friday, 5:30 pm • Open House at the Museum. All are welcome.

The main celebration is Saturday, August 8, from 10 am – 3 pm at the Guest House Museum.

• 10-11 David Foucheaux will review the history of the Guest House over the years from 1857 to the present.
• 11-12 Michael Stenberg will tell the story of the California Western Railroad from a line hauling logs to a recreational route, The Skunk.
• 12 to 1:30 Lunch Break
• 1:30 pm Presentation of the Alder Thurman Historical Contribution Award. An award to some one who had made a contribution to local history. We expect to make this an annual presentation.
• 2 pm An entertaining presentation by Katie Tahja and Marty Simpson of the racy side of life early in the last century. They come in the persona of Madame Kate and J. D. Johnson, a businessman in Mendocino, to tell the tale.

They will round out the month with some walks in historic areas of Fort Bragg:

• August 16, Sunday, 11 am, Cemetery Walk, Meet at Rose Memorial Park. Cemetery Walks led by David Foucheaux.
• August 22, Saturday, 11 am, Historic Downtown Walk, Meet at the Museum. Walk led by Betty Carr.
• August 30, Sunday, 11 am, Cemetery Walk. Meet at Rose Memorial Park.

The Guest House Museum is located at 343 North Main Street in Fort Bragg, CA, right next to the Skunk Train Depot.

• The Study Club of Mendocino celebrated its 100th anniversary this  year and has published a walking town of historic homes.
• The restored 1909 Point Cabrillo Light Station, now a state historic park, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the lighting of the light.
• The Presbyterian Church, one of the oldest in the western hemisphere, is celebrating 150 years.
• Five “house museums” (Kelley House, Ford House, Lighkeeper’s House, Light House and Guest House) have joined together to market their little corner of the coast.

But what energized me to make note of these was the introduction of historian Bruce Levene’s new photo history, “Perley Maxwell’s Mendocino.”  At the Kelley House’s regular 3 pm program (4th Sunday of each month), Levene, best known as the author of “Mendocino & The Movies” unveiled the newly published book with a one-hour video with music and dialogue. Thanks to two years work by Levene, who donated his time to this fundraising venture for the Kelley House, the work of photo hobbyist Maxell comes to life.

The book is derived from 400 glass negatives created by Maxwell and now stored in the Kelley House archives. Apparently, the slides almost ended up as glass panels for a glass greenhouse roof when building materials were scarce during the Great Depression. There’s more to the story and how the slides were rescued. But you’ll have to buy the book for $24.95 (it’s well worth it). You’ll find it in Gallery Books and at the Kelley House, www.MendocinoHistory.org, in Mendocino Village.

Also highlighted in the book is the 2002 Mendocino High School projected, directed by teacher Bill Brazill, collaborated with a group of students and created the Then & Now Project. The students took 25 prints of Perley Maxwell’s glass slides, found the exact location they were taken a 100 years ago, and photographed them as they appear today. Many of those photos are on display at the Kelley House, as well.

If you’re a history buff, Mendocino Village is the place to be this year.

Docent-led historic walking tours will run every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and include buildings not open to the general public, such as the Masonic Temple, Presbyterian Church, and the Temple of Kwan Tai. Historic characters come alive on the cemetery tour and through old-time radio broadcasts.  Visitors can tour heritage roses at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens or talk with historic characters on the Skunk Train.

This event is for the release of the Third Edition of Mendocino Outdoors, the best guidebook about the Mendocino Coast. The new edition is a huge improvement over the past editions in all ways: it’s been completely revised (rewritten, really), and expanded to cover the entire Mendocino Coast. The new edition also has a lot more photography in it, to show you why you might want to go see something. I also ended up revising all of the maps, in addition to new ones.

You can see more about the book, including sample pages, here on the site.