In Fort Bragg, born as an army fort in 1855 but raised on the lumber industry, anyone mourning the decline of California’s once-mighty redwood forests might be nonplussed by the uncritical accounts of the wood-cutting trade outlined in the town’s small Guest House Museum (http://www.fortbragghistory.org), 343 N. Main Street, which occupies the 1892 home of the brother of one of the industry’s bosses.

There is better stuff elsewhere: Noyo Harbour, the town’s coastal section, sports a picturesque small-craft fishing fleet and hosts mouth-watering salmon barbecues at the slightest excuse. And on the town’s southern boundary, the lovely Mendocino Botanical Gardens smother 47 acres of windy headlands with a selection of colorful and aromatic wildflowers, viewable and sniffable on self-guided trails.

Fort Bragg is also the western terminus of the Skunk Train, which travels inland to Willits from the depot behind the Guest House.