Navarro (formerly known as Wendling) 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 ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 west of Ukiah, at an elevation of . It may be reached via the east–west

California State Route 128 State Route 128 (SR 128) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting the Mendocino coast to the Sacramento Valley, through the state's Wine Country. It runs from State Route 1 near Albion to Interstate 505 in Winters. Rou ...

, which connects it to the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas North America Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...

to the west and to the

Anderson Valley Anderson Valley is a sparsely populated region in western Mendocino County in Northern California. Located approximately north of San Francisco, the name "Anderson Valley" applies broadly to several rural, unincorporated communities in or nea ...

to the southeast.

History

A former

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

named ''Navarro'', with approximately 1,000 people, was founded in the 1860s and located approximately to the west of the present town, at the mouth of the

Navarro River The Navarro River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 9, 2011 river in Mendocino County, California, United States. It flows northwest through the California Coas ...

in what is now Navarro River Redwoods State Park.. A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

opened there in 1867. In 1902, the

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

at the mouth of the river burned down, and the post office closed. A new mill was built that year by G. C. Wendling on the north

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to h ...

of the Navarro River, at the present location of Navarro, and in 1905 the town of Wendling was founded around the mill. A post office was opened there in 1914. However, in 1916, the Wendling mill was bought by the Navarro Lumber Company, at which point Wendling became known as Navarro Mill, or, more simply, Navarro. To reduce confusion, the dwindling seaside town of Navarro became known as Old Navarro, Navarro Ridge, or Navarro-by-the-sea.. The Fort Bragg and Southeastern Railroad connected Wendling (Navarro) with

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

facilities in

Albion, California Albion is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located south of Fort Bragg, California, Fort Bragg, at an elevation of . Albion had a population of 153 at the 2020 census. ...

, from 1905 to 1930.

References

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