Westport (formerly Beall's Landing) 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 ...

, United States. It is located on

California State Route 1 State Route 1 (SR 1) is a major north–south state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, ...

, near the

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

, north of

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...

, and at an elevation of . The first post office at Westport opened in 1879. Originally called Beall's Landing in honor of Samuel Beall, its first white settler, the place was renamed in 1877 by James T. Rodgers, who built a timber loading facility for the name to contrast with his hometown of Eastport, Maine. As of July 2010, the population of Westport was 60. It has a community store with gas pumps, several inns, and, as of 2020, nine

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...

or VRBO rental homes. Though small, the village of Westport has a strong community. The Westport County Water District is a municipal agency formed in 1978 that provides drinking water and sewer services for the town of Westport. It has 4 paid employees overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors. The Westport Village Society raised over $100,000 in grant funding to build a staircase from the Westport Headlands down to the town beach, and spearheaded grant funding drives of over $1 million to enable the purchase of land along the coast at DeHaven Creek and Bell Point to preserve them for public trails and access. The residents of Westport maintain a community garden from which organically grown produce is available year-round for consumption by Westport residents and visitors alike. Westport and its vicinity have been the locale of several disappearances and homicides over the years, including: * Linda Lee Lovell and Stephen Locke Packard, disappeared in June 1974; * Christine and Craig Langford, disappeared in January 1981; * Harlan Sutherland, homicide victim, remains found in August 1987; * Clyde William Stanley, homicide victim, remains found in March 1988; * Donald James Cavanaugh and David Virgil Neily, disappeared in March 2005 and April 2006, respectively, from the same address;"Donald Cavanaugh And David Neily: Two Missing Men, Two Unsolved Mysteries", ''Huffington Post,'' 21 November 2013

Retrieved 16 January 2017. * Matthew Coleman, murdered in August 2011; * Abigail, Ciera, Devonte, Hannah, Jeremiah, and Markis Hart, all Hart family murders, murdered by their adoptive mothers, Jen and Sarah Hart, on March 26, 2018, when their SUV intentionally drove over a cliff in a mass murder-suicide, two miles north of Westport. The family had been living in Washington State before the road trip which culminated in the fatal crash. Both perpetrators were known to have abused their six children before the crash.Devonte Hart family mystery: Podcast sheds new light on horrific deaths
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References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Mendocino County, California Populated coastal places in California

See also

References