2 Best Sights in Mendocino, The North Coast

A 3-mile, easy-to-walk trail leads across the spectacular seaside cliffs bordering Mendocino. The restored Ford House, built in 1854, serves as the visitor center for the park and the town. The house has a scale model of Mendocino as it looked in 1890, when it had 34 water towers and a 12-seat public outhouse.

Completed in 1909 and noteworthy for its original, third-order Fresnel lens that glows like a jewel day or night, the still-active station inhabits a breezy plateau 3 miles north of Mendocino village. Dirt and paved paths lead ½-mile downhill from the parking lot to the station. The lighthouse museum and other historic buildings are worth a peek if open, but the park merits a visit for its views alone.