The area
Kibesillah and the north coast
About ten miles north of Fort Bragg, where Highway 1 runs along the bluffs toward Westport.
Getting here
A few hours north, a world away
From San Francisco it's roughly 3.5 to 4 hours by car: north on Highway 101, then west to the coast on Highway 20 through Willits, or Highway 128 through Anderson Valley. Highway 1 then runs north through Fort Bragg to the Cove.
Kibesillah Cove is about ten miles north of Fort Bragg. Seaview is ten minutes further, near Westport. Exact addresses are shared when you book.
The name
Kibesillah, a vanished town
Kibesillah takes its name from a Pomo word. Settlers arrived in the 1860s, and the first business, a blacksmith shop, opened in 1867. At its height the town had three hotels, three saloons, a public school and a Baptist church, and a lumber chute loaded ships with lumber and passengers.
When lumberman C. R. Johnson moved the mill to Fort Bragg and founded the Union Lumber Company, the town followed. Today nothing of it is left. Read the story at the Kelley House Museum.
Nearby
Things to do on the coast
- Glass Beach and MacKerricher State ParkSea-glass coves in Fort Bragg and miles of beach, dunes and tide pools just north of town. Rangers lead free whale walks on March weekends.
- Fort BraggNoyo Harbor for fresh fish and boat trips, the Skunk Train into the redwoods, and the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.
- WestportA tiny village north of the Cove with Westport-Union Landing State Beach a few minutes from Seaview.
- Mendocino villageGalleries, inns and headland trails on the bluffs south of Fort Bragg.
- Point Cabrillo Light StationA restored lighthouse on the headlands between Fort Bragg and Mendocino.
- Anderson ValleyPinot noir wineries along Highway 128, on the inland route to the coast.
Through the year
Gray whales pass the coast in winter and spring. These annual events are worth planning a stay around.
- March: Whale Festivals in Mendocino, Little River, Fort Bragg and Westport
- July: Mendocino Music Festival, and the Salmon BBQ in Fort Bragg in early July
- Labor Day: Paul Bunyan Days in Fort Bragg
- September: Winesong at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
- November: Mushroom season and Harvest Mendocino
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