I passed these barns several times on my way for Fort Brag to San Francisco and always was certain this was a private property.
But one I finally stopped and found out this is a state parks land, so I can get in and explore the old farm (the sign on the gate says it is a trail).
History of the farm
Kent farm is located in Little River (also known as Littleriver, Bells Harbor, and Kents Landing) - small town in Mendocino county. Little River was first settled by Lloyd and Samuel Bell, and the Moore Brothers. Shortly after, in 1856, W.H. Kent purchased the Bell tract and until 1862 the place was known as Bell’s Harbor and Kent’s Landing. In that year Ruel Stickney, Silas Coombs, and Tapping Reeves built a mill here, which provided the stimulus for the formation the town of Little River.
Three years after his marriage to Charlotte Curtis Cofren, William Henry Kent of Mount Vernon, Maine, came to California in 1850 to try his luck in its gold mines. According to the Mendocino Beacon of the time, his was the only dairy farm for more than 120 miles. Eventually he raised beef cattle as well, feeding the lumbering camps as well as the growing town of Mendocino. According to the U.S. census of 1860, in that year he owned forty-five dairy cows, which produced a thousand pounds of butter, and an additional head of cattle for other purposes. By 1870 he also owned 150 sheep and 18 pigs. Within years of settling on the old Beall property, the 1870 census lists Kent’s occupation as butcher, and he continued to consolidate that business, buying, processing, and selling both beef and mutton to mills and local residents. (1).
During the 20th century farm land was sold several times and in 1990 it ended in the property of the California state parks.
