Road Trip: Fort Bragg, CA

 

ROAD TRIP:

FORT BRAGG, CA

April 26, 2022

Until recent years Fort Bragg had a resource extraction-based economy (timber and fishing industries). Now the economy is more service‐oriented. Population: 7,000.

The lumber mill that operated since the late 1800s, was shut down in 2002 after being identified as a nonperforming asset. The mill occupied a huge 400-acre piece of property within the city limits that included most of the coastline of Fort Bragg. In 2017 the mill site was sold and is undergoing redevelopment, including the removal of toxic waste. Commercial fishing also played an important role in the formation of the economic base of Fort Bragg. Noyo Harbor was once a major commercial fishing port well‐known for producing quality fish products.

Several major movies have been filmed in and around Fort Bragg, including Johnny Belinda (1948), a drama based on the Broadway hit of the same name, starring Jane Wyman; The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966), a comedy about a Soviet submarine that accidentally runs aground off the coast of New England, starring Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint; Racing with the Moon (1984), a drama starring Sean Penn, Elizabeth McGovern, and Nicolas Cage; Overboard (1987), a romantic comedy starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and The Majestic (2001), a romantic period drama starring Jim Carrey.

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PHOTOS

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Glass Beach

From 1906 to 1967 Fort Bragg dumped its trash into the ocean. Glass Beach was used as a dump from 1949 to 1967. Over several decades the pounding waves wore down the discarded glass into the small, smooth pieces called sea glass that coat the beach. Over the next several decades, what was biodegradable in the dump sites simply degraded and all the metal and other items were eventually removed and sold as scrap or used in art. 

Back in the 1970s Mary and I often visited Fort Bragg. I remember much more glass and larger pieces on the beach. Currently, Fort Bragg trucks its glass 550 miles over the Sierra Nevada mountains to a landfill in Sparks, Nevada.

View from Glass Beach

The Stewart House

The Stewart House was built in 1876. This property sold in October of 2021 for $919,000.

The Weller House

The Weller House was built in 1886.  In 1897 two upper stories were added to the house. There are seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and a ballroom in the main house.  The 4-story water tower is equipped with four individual suites and views for miles from the roof-top deck. It is currently used as an inn.  

Vintage Railway Car

The California Western Railroad also known as the Mendocino Railway, popularly called the Skunk Train, is a rail freight and heritage railroad running 40 miles from its headquarters in the coastal town of Fort Bragg to the interchange with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at Willits, California. The rail line opened in 1885 as the Fort Bragg Railroad.

Inner Noyo Harbor
Noyo Harbor is the port and boat docking area for Fort Bragg. It is located at the mouth of the Noyo River in the town of Noyo, just south of Fort Bragg.

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COPYRIGHT

These photographs are the property of Leon Jackson and are protected by copyright laws. Photographs may not be downloaded or reproduced in any way without the written permission of Leon Jackson. © 2022 Leon Jackson. All Rights Reserved.

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