Mendocino is an unincorporated village on the Pacific coast of Mendocino County, California, about 150 miles north of San Francisco and nine miles south of Fort Bragg. It occupies a dramatic headland where the town's grid of historic streets meets the open ocean, and its setting on coastal bluffs above the Pacific is among the most recognizable landscapes on the California coast. The village grew from a lumber mill built in 1852 amid the surrounding redwood forests, when the settlement was known variously as Meiggsville, Big River, and Mendocino City. Mendocino's defining feature is its architecture. The mill owners and workers who settled the town in the mid-nineteenth century built Victorian and New England-style homes that survive in remarkable concentration, and the village is preserved as a National Historic District. Local advocacy in 1974 defeated a large-scale development and led to the creation of Mendocino Headlands State Park, which now wraps the village in protected coastal bluffs, sea caves, and headlands. Today Mendocino is an art and tourism community of about 1,100 residents. The Mendocino Art Center, operating since 1959, anchors a lively gallery scene, and the village's historic houses, inns, and shops draw visitors year-round. Students attend the Mendocino Unified School District, and daily life is shaped by the coast—gray whale migrations, harbor seals, and the trails and overlooks of the headlands. The village's combination of protected historic fabric, a working arts community, and one of the most scenic stretches of the Northern California coastline gives it an identity unlike the larger towns around it. For those drawn to a small, historic village with dramatic ocean views and a deliberate, unhurried pace, Mendocino is a distinctive and enduring place.