Nashmead (formerly Nash) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza") is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United S ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is located on the Eel River and

Northwestern Pacific Railroad The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a mainline railroad from the former ferry connections in Sausalito, California north to Eureka, with a connection to the national railroad system at Schellville. The railroad has gone through a complex h ...

south-southeast of Spyrock, at an elevation of 814 feet (248 m). Nashmead began as a railroad stop with a store, hotel, and a few vacation cabins. For a time, Nashmead was a transfer point for mail being shipped by rail on the Northwestern Pacific. Nashmead was the site of a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

across the Eel River for foot traffic, unique for having only a single tower to support the cables. The bridge was constructed in 1939 and was the only means for residents of the nearby

Round Valley Indian Reservation Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (crypto ...

to obtain supplies shipped by rail. A post office operated at Nashmead from 1915 to 1960. The name honors J. Nash, its first postmaster. The name Nashmead was formed from "Nash's Meadows".

References

Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Mendocino County, California {{MendocinoCountyCA-geo-stub