Brewery Gulch Inn is intimately tied to the history, the land, and characters of early Mendocino.

In 1850, a ship bound from China for San Francisco with a load of silks and tea ran aground several miles north of present-day Mendocino. When a group was dispatched from the logging camp at Bodega Bay to recover the cargo, they found virgin redwood forests instead of booty from the Orient. San Francisco lumberman and entrepreneur Harry Meiggs reacted quickly to this news, and built a sawmill on the headland in summer 1852. When it was damaged during a winter storm, he erected a second one on the sheltered Big River, just east of modern Highway 1.

Logging in Mendocino in the 1800s depended on the Big River for transporting giant redwood trees to the mill. As these trees were swiftly floated downstream, some of the grandest trunks submerged into the murky depths due to their tremendous weight and remained there, waiting to be discovered.

Over a century later, during a construction project on a nearby bridge, these logs were found deeply settled in silt. The perfectly preserved, 100-150 year old logs ranged up to 16 feet in diameter. Dr. Arky Ciancutti, a lifetime lover of wood, salvaged, traded for, and bought over 100,000 board feet of virgin redwood, ranging from 40-inches to 12 feet in diameter. He envisioned using the eco-salvaged, virgin-growth "guiltless" redwood as major components in a new inn. The chosen location on his property affords spectacular water views and is surrounded by hundreds of acres of unoccupied meadow and timber. This dream becomes a reality with the opening of the new Brewery Gulch Inn.

Homer Barton, another major character in the area's history, was fresh from the California gold fields in 1884. While panning for gold, he realized that it was the merchants, not the miners, who were getting rich. He envisioned becoming boomtown Mendocino's major food supplier. He financed his enterprise as one of the first drivers of the oxen teams used to drag the redwood logs to the Big River. With the pick of the land, Barton established the first real farm in Mendocino County; the land now owned by Dr. Ciancutti. He later added a successful dairy and brewery. Protected from the coastal winds, blessed with water, and a favorable mini-climate, Barton found the site perfect for growing a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, ferrying the produce across the Big River daily.

When Dr. Ciancutti bought the property in 1977 as a private home for his family, there had only been one other owner since 1910. In 1984, he refurbished the original farmhouse, opening it as a small bed and breakfast. Beauty abounds on the 10-acre site that includes many species of native plants, three ponds, and two rushing streams. Dr. Ciancutti has taken advantage of the favorable mini-climate that made Barton's farm thrive to add lovely gardens, as well as planting 3,000 bulbs each year and developing a 2-acre woodland garden with 600 rhododendrons and 1,000 ferns forming a backdrop.

Visitors to the new Brewery Gulch Inn will find that today and yesterday are an integral part of their experience.

Virgin Redwood Sales - eco-salvaged treasure for use in your home