McNear: Katie Ford would walk on the headlands during the Mendocino Coast’s big storms

For Catherine Ford, hearing the ocean waves from her home on Main Street in Mendocino was awe-inspiring. In a notebook remembering her 1860s childhood in Mendocino, Catherine “Katie” wrote, “A subconscious distrust of the Ocean was always in my mind whenever I was near it but it held a fascination for me.”

The Ford house, built in 1864, sits on the south side of Main Street. The headland cliffs act as the home’s backyard, providing a clear view of Mendocino Bay and, at the time the Fords lived in the home, the lumber shipping point on the bluff.