Arena Cove Historic District is located on the northern coast of California in the United States. The

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

comprises several buildings and structures and lies in a small

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

just to the south of Point Arena in

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish for "of Mendoza) is a county located on the North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,601. The county seat is Ukiah. Mendocino County consists whol ...

. It is located about halfway between

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and

Cape Mendocino Cape Mendocino (Spanish: ''Cabo Mendocino'', meaning "Cape of Mendoza"), which is located approximately north of San Francisco, is located on the Lost Coast entirely within Humboldt County, California, United States. At 124° 24' 34" W longitude ...

and just down Port Road from the city of

Point Arena Point Arena, formerly known as Punta Arena (Spanish language, Spanish for "Sandy Point") is a small coastal city in Mendocino County, California, Mendocino County, California, United States. Point Arena is located west of Hopland, California, H ...

. The effects of occasional storm surges and

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

are amplified by the funneling nature of the cove. A small wharf is available for local fishermen and tourists.

Natural hazards

The city of Arena Cove, which has changed little during the 19th and 20th centuries, is no stranger to natural disasters. The city and the

Point Arena Lighthouse Point Arena Light is a lighthouse in Mendocino County, California, United States, two miles (3 km) north of Point Arena, California. It is approximately north of San Francisco, in the Fort Point Group of lighthouses. The lighthouse featur ...

were damaged during the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

, and the wharf was damaged beyond repair during severe storms in 1983 and was rebuilt in 1986. Distant earthquakes have created danger in the form of tsunami, but only mild effects have been observed. A wave arrived at the cove following the 1946 Aleutian Islands earthquake and a wave arrived after the

1964 Alaska earthquake The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27.

National Register of Historic Places

It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1990. The architecturally most interesting building at the time of NRHP listing was a

Stick Stick or the stick may refer to: Thin elongated objects * Twig * The weapon used in stick fighting * Walking stick, a device to facilitate balancing while walking * Shepherd's crook * Swagger stick * Digging stick * Swizzle stick, used to stir d ...

/Eastlake architecture house perched partway up the hillside, which has escaped damage during the various tsunami and

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...

s. The site includes ten contributing buildings and three contributing structures. and The NRHP-listed area is . Arena Cove Historic District-28.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-29.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-30.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-31.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-32.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-33.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-34.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-36.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-38.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-39.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-40.jpg Arena Cove Historic District-19.jpg

References

Queen Anne architecture in California Buildings and structures in Mendocino County, California Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Mendocino County, California {{California-NRHP-stub