Eureka: Carson Mansion; things to do

101 North 

Carson Mansion  

143 M St./2nd St. 

Built between 1884 and 1886, the Carson Mansion is said to be the most photographed Victorian house in the world and is the "queen" of Victorian architecture.  It is a mixture of several Victorian building styles--including Queen Anne, Italianate, and Stick-Eastlake—and took 100 men more than 2 years to build.  Pioneer lumber baron William Carson, a failed gold miner, privately financed it in order to avoid laying off his best men during a depression.  It now houses a private club and can be viewed only from the exterior.

Carson Mansion in Eureka, California

More things to do in Eureka.

More ideas for exploring Northern California. 

image ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Eureka: Carter House Inns; hotel review + restaurant review

101 North 

Carter House Inns  

(800) 404-1390, (707) 444-8062.  $$-$$$+.  Afternoon & evening snack; full breakfast; restaurant; room service.  Pets ok in some rooms. 

●Hotel Carter  

301 L St.  24 rooms.  Some gas fireplaces. 

The center of this little empire, the Hotel Carter was built in 1984 to replicate a long gone Victorian inn originally located in the area.  It provides casual, tasteful lodging amenable to families.  Some suites have showers for two and in-room whirlpool tubs large enough for a family of four.  When staying in one of these posh rooms recently, I’d set my alarm so I’d have enough time to enjoy a leisurely soak before my 8:30 a.m. breakfast time.  It was at 7:30 a.m. that I glimpsed a card requesting that guests please not use the tub between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.  What’s a girl to do?  I ran the whirlpool tub at 7:15 a.m.--it was just too good to pass up, being one of the deepest tubs I’ve come across--and I regretted nothing once the perfectly operating jets started soothing my overused tootsies.  I plead “rules are made to be broken.”  Oh, and did I mention the abundance of fluffy white towels everywhere?

exterior of Hotel Carter in Eureka, California

guest room bed at Hotel Carter in Eureka, California

whirlpool tub at Hotel Carter in Eureka, California

Restaurant 301 

offers an elegant dinner menu showcasing the region’s finest seasonal delicacies, including Kumamoto oysters and Pacific salmon.  Designed to please both the eye and the palate, entrees are arranged artistically on oversize plates and garnished with such delights as fresh flowers and herb sprigs.  Past menu selections have included flavorful squash cakes, chicken cacciatora with creamy polenta, and grilled pork loin with both housemade chutney and applesauce.  A well-priced five-course, fixed price dinner is available with optional selected wine pairings.  Bar drinks are available as well as several thousand wines, including vintages from Envy Wines, the proprietor’s winery in Calistoga.  Breakfast for the inns is provided here and includes a pastry buffet and a hot egg dish served to the table.

breakfast plate from buffet at Hotel Carter in Eureka, California

breakfast hot entree at Hotel Carter in Eureka, California

Interested guests may visit the herb and vegetable garden that supplies the restaurant.  It is the most extensive inn kitchen garden on the West Coast.

In the late afternoon complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres are served in the lobby, and in the evening freshly baked cookies and tea appear.  Just remember that if you want a chocolate and turndown, you need to request it.  

afternoon hors d'oeuvres at Hotel Carter in Eureka, California

The owner’s substantial collection of original local art is displayed here and throughout the lodgings, and an impressive wine shop operates off the lobby.    

●Carter House  

1033 3rd St./L St.  4 stories; 6 rooms.  Unsuitable for toddlers.  1 fireplace. 

When constructed by then and current owner Mark Carter in 1982, this Victorian-style building was the original Carter House.  Its redwood exterior was ominously weather-darkened, and it looked like it had been here forever, but now it is painted an inviting cheery yellow.  It is surprising to learn it is a replica of the 1884 Eastlake Victorian design of two San Francisco architects, one of whom also designed Eureka’s famous Carson Mansion.  (The original house stood on the corner of Bush and Jones streets in San Francisco and was destroyed in the fire following the 1906 earthquake.)  Rooms are all oversize and elegantly furnished.

Carter House before

Carter House now

●Bell Cottage  

1023 3rd St.  3 rooms.  Shared kitchen; some wood-burning & gas fireplaces.

●Carter Cottage 

1027 3rd St.  1 room.  Kitchen; 2 gas fireplaces. 

Located adjacent to the Carter House, these two sweet Victorian cottages offer a little more privacy and independence.  Each suite in the 1890 Bell Cottage has a marble fireplace plus a private bath and whirlpool tub.  Carter Cottage features a deep marble whirlpool tub, fireplaces in both the sleeping and living areas, and a secluded back deck with a fountain plus a marina view.


More things to do in Eureka.

More ideas for exploring Northern California.

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Eureka, Samoa Island: Samoa Cookhouse + Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum; restaurant review + things to do

101 North 

Samoa Island, Eureka

Samoa Island is a scenic 5-minute. drive from town across the Samoa Bridge,  Before the bridge was built in 1972, people traveled here by ferry. 

●Samoa Cookhouse  

908 Vance Ave., off Cookhouse Rd. (call for directions), (707) 442-1659.  B-L-D daily; adults B $12.95, L $13.95, D $16.95; kids 8-11 $6.95, 5-7 $4.95, under 5 free, 60+ 10% discount.  No reservations. 

Originally built in the 1890s by the Georgia-Pacific Corporation to feed its loggers, this is the last surviving cookhouse in the West.  There is no menu at the Samoa Cookhouse.  Just sit down at one of the long, boarding house-style tables and a hearty, delicious, family-style meal starts arriving.  Though the menu changes daily, a typical breakfast consists of biscuits and gravy, fluffy scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage, and coffee or tea.  Lunch might be a marinated three-bean salad, long-simmered and flavorful Florentine tomato soup, fresh-baked bread with butter and assorted jams, green salad with ranch dressing and croutons, rice pilaf, lemon-pepper chicken, saucy beans, peas, chocolate cake with chocolate pudding frosting and whipped cream topping, and coffee or tea.  My most recently lunch here included fluffy housemade white bread with butter, chicken and rice soup, crispy salad with croutons, marinated 3-bean salad, roasted potatoes, pot roast with carrots, baked beans, peach cake, and iced tea.  It is a fantastic value!  Most dishes are prepared from scratch with fresh ingredients.  The only items not included in the fixed price are milk and sodas.

exterior of Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

front door of Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

menu board at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

dining room at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

dining room at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

lunch bread basket at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

lunch salad at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

lunch at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

peach cake at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

  

Historic Logging Museum

After dining, wander through the free Historic Logging Museum of artifacts and historical photos located in the back. 

Historic Logging Museum at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka, California

●Work up an appetite before, or work off some calories after, with a walk along one of the area's driftwood-strewn beaches.  To find them, follow any of the turnoffs from Samoa Boulevard. 

●Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum  

77 Cookhouse Rd., (707) 444-9440.  Tu-Sat 12-4.  By donation, $3. 

Located next door to the Samoa Cookhouse, the small Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum operates inside a replica of the oldest commercial building in Eureka.  It  displays vintage photos and artifacts that tell the maritime history of the north coast.  Shipwrecks and disasters include a submarine that ran ashore in 1917.  Eureka is one of only two official Coast Guard Cities in the U.S., so you’ll learn about the local legacy.  Many artifacts came from offshore shipwrecks, and displays include vintage tools and instruments as well as a 4th-order Frensel lens from the long gone Table Bluff lighthouse and a cupola from the Humboldt Bay lighthouse.  Museum volunteers are on hand to tell stories and answer questions.

exterior of Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum

mooring anchor at Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum

displays at Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum

displays at Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum

4th-order Frensel lens at Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum

More things to do in Eureka.

More ideas for exploring Northern California.

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Eureka: Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate; things to do

101 North

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate  

4 W. 4th St., (707) 798-6010.  M-F 10am-4pm. 

This luxury chocolate-maker offers drop-in tours of its production facility. No appointment necessary.  Focusing on quality, Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate makes small batch bean-to-bar chocolate from scratch and specialize in dark chocolate from around the world.  

cacao pod and bean display

Only 12 tons were produced last year, but the plan is for 18 tons this year.  You’ll see burlap bags filled with slowly sun-dried cacao beans from around the world.

burlap bags at Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate in Eureka, California

Beans are sorted on a conveyer-belt machine,

then roasted 35 pounds at a time in an antique Royal #5 coffee roaster from the early 1900s, which dries and sterilizes them.

antique Royal #5 coffee roaster

The flavor and chemicals that make you feel so good are in the nibs.

bucket of chocolate nibs

Cocoa butter—which is solid in your hand, but liquid in your mouth or at body temp--is what makes chocolate unique.  A grinding ball mill uses ball bearings to turn nibs into paste, and that is followed by more grinding.

co-owner Adam Dick with grinding ball mill

The last step in the process is putting the mix into a circular conche,

conche at Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate in Eureka, California

where it spends 48 hours and comes out liquid.  It is then tempered and put into molds, hardened into blocks, and finally foiled and wrapped in envelopes.

liquid chocolate at Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate in Eureka, California

chocolate is wrapped at Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate in Eureka, California

A whole array of specialized machines is used, and it takes three weeks to transform from bean to bar.  This shop sells their own chocolate bars, of course, but also offers a few items they like from other makers.  Since dark chocolate is Dick Taylor’s specialty, and since I am a huge fan of milk chocolate, I wound up seduced by an Omnom dark milk-burned sugar 55% bar from Iceland as my souvenir (I like it).  My husband, a dark chocolate lover, plans to buy Dick Taylor bars where he can find them distributed.

chocolate products at Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate in Eureka, California

More things to do in Eureka.

More ideas for exploring Northern California.

images and video ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Eureka Harper Ford Carousel (CLOSED); things to do

101 North

Harper Ford Carousel  

CLOSED  4800 Hwy. 101 N, 2 mi. N of town, (877) 285-6677, (707) 443-7311.  Daily noon-4pm.  Free.

Amazingly, a classic 1947 Allan Herschell wood carousel has operated at this car dealership since 1992!  Any dullness resulting from its exposure to the elements is periodically spiffed up with automobile paint, leading to some horses in unusual colors.  Of the 30 horses, 15 are original wood ones and 15 are replacements in aluminum.  Each has its own theme and name.  One of the oldest Ford dealerships in the United States, Harper Ford was established in 1912 by Harvey Harper's father, Harvey Mitchell Harper, who arrived in Eureka from Phoenix, Arizona, after a 40-day journey in a 1912 Ford Model T.

1947 Allan Herschell carousel at Harper Ford dealership in Eureka, California

1947 Allan Herschell carousel at Harper Ford dealership in Eureka, California

1947 Allan Herschell carousel at Harper Ford dealership in Eureka, California

1947 Allan Herschell carousel at Harper Ford dealership in Eureka, California

More things to do in Eureka.

More carousels.

More ideas for exploring Northern California.

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Eureka: Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe + Lost Coast Brew House; restaurant review + things to do

101 North 

Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe  

617 4th St., in Old Town, (707) 445-4480.  L-D daily; $.  Reservations accepted.

Situated within a historic building, the Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe is the first brewery in the U.S. founded and operated by women.  The actual brewing production has moved to a new dedicated facility south of town, where you can take a tour.  Among the several kinds of handcrafted microbrews, the hands-down favorites are  Great White beer (features the flavors of wheat and coriander and is their best seller) and Downtown Brown ale, but Indian Pale Ale isn’t far behind and was my favorite.  And don’t overlook the house-made root beer.  Roast beef and turkey is baked in-house, and french fries are made from scratch with fresh potatoes.  The menu’s extensive pub fare goes well with a pint.  Burgers are the best sellers, but the delicious locally-caught  halibut and chips is close behind.  More options include French dip and pulled pork sandwiches, coconut prawns, stuffed Navajo bread, Tuscany pizza, and a build-your-own pizza.  Happy Hour runs Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. and is the perfect time to try the nachos or the big baked pretzel--solo or stuffed with cheese.

rear entrance to Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe in Eureka, California

bar menu at Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe in Eureka, California

interior of Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe in Eureka, California

 

surfboard chomped on by a Great White at Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe
in Eureka, California

local halibut and chips at Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe in Eureka, California

house salad at Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe in Eureka, California

Lost Coast Brew House  

1600 Sunset Ave., 2 mi. SW of town, (707) 445-4484.  Free.

This small regional brewery is of one of the nation's largest microbrews and now has a sleek new brewing production facility.  The company’s brews were made for the first three years in the pub cafe, then in a warehouse for 22 more years.  Tours here of the new Lost Coast Brew House are usually led by owner Barbara Groom, a former pharmacist.  You’ll learn about how yeast eats sugar and makes gas, and about malt and green leaves and sun and how it all turns into beer.  You’ll smell the fragrances, see the various grains, and stagger your mind with the fact that 40 types of yeast are used to give the beer different flavors.  If you’re lucky, you might get to step inside the 20-degree hop freezer—a particularly refreshing experience on a warm day.  Throughout you’ll see shiny stainless steel pipes, concrete floors, and equipment from an array of international companies—Germany (tanks with colorful blue trim), Mexico (a grain grinder with a dryer motor used to grind coriander for Great White), and America (a fascinating bottling machine).  Try to schedule a weekday tour because that is when everything is happening,  and you can see the bottles filled, capped, and packed in boxes.  The bottler pops out 440 per minute, and though bottles are king, cans are coming due to demand for use at the beach and around pools.  At the tour’s conclusion, you’ll get to do some tasting in the Tap Room, where lovely recycled counters from a 100-year-old Monterey cypress tree enhance the decor (that tree was also used for trim throughout the building).  Ice cream is available from Humboldt Creamery (expelled grain from their company is used in beer making here).  Don’t miss viewing the concrete restroom counter made with recycled chipped beer bottles and molded to look like a beer bottle.  Picnicking is welcome. 

owner Barbara Groom leads a tour

bottling line at Lost Coast Brew House in Eureka, California

recycled beer bottle counter at Lost Coast Brew House in Eureka, California

More things to do in Eureka.

More ideas for exploring Northern California.

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Eureka: Humboldt Bay Naval Sea/Air Museum; things to do

101 North

Humboldt Bay Naval Sea/Air Museum  

Commercial Street Dock, Waterfront Dr., just a few miles from Old Town waterfront, (707) 442-9333.  F & Sun 9am-3pm, & any other time the flag is up and the coffee pot is on.  By donation. 

last operational WWII Landing Craft at Humboldt Bay Naval Sea/Air Museum
in Eureka, California

boarding the WWII Landing Craft at Humboldt Bay Naval Sea/Air Museum
in Eureka, California

welcome mat at Humboldt Bay Naval Sea/Air Museum in Eureka, California

Out on this area’s scenic waterfront, past some rusted train cars that are covered in an attractive way with graffiti, a World War II Landing Craft is now moored to the pier and operates as the Humboldt Bay Naval Sea/Air Museum--a floating museum.  Though 1,098 were built during World War II--this one being #1091--only two remain.  This 158-foot-long vessel is the last operational LCI (#713 is in Portland, Oregon, and has no engines).  Used in Okinawa in the last invasion of the Pacific War, she looks similar to when she was in combat more than 50 years ago.  The craft served again in the Korean War as an epidemic control vessel, but was in actuality a spy ship.  In 1960 she became a processing ship for an Alaska fish company, and then was purchased by Dr. Ralph Davis in Everett, Washington, and sailed here in 1989 to be used for albacore fishing.  In 2006, when fuel became too expensive, Dr. Davis donated the ship to the museum.  "Ten Ninety-One" (civilian name) was built in 1944 in the De Bois Shipyards in Bay City, Michigan.  In the war she sailed in flotillas of LCIs, each carrying 200 soldiers and their gear that they delivered to enemy beaches via a ramp.  The LCIs were built in small shipyards because bigger ones were occupied constructing Liberty ships.  You can get an impromptu tour of the craft and see the galley, berths, and heads.  Museum volunteers continue to work on restoring #1091 to her original state.  An additional viewing bonus is the 36-foot Flemish life boat that bobs adjacent.  These boats were designed so anyone can operate them.  Only three are left and this museum has them all.

36-foot Flemish life boat at Humboldt Bay Naval Sea/Air Museum
in Eureka, California

Fun fund-raisers are scheduled periodically, including pancake breakfasts, events on military holidays, and a Haunted Ship at Halloween.  Drop by to hear the rest of the story and chew the fat with some old salts.

volunteers in front of gun tower on WWII Landing Craft
at Humboldt Bay Naval Sea/Air Museum in Eureka, California

More World War II stories:
Dad’s Story
Rosie the Riveter Stories

Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park.


More things to do in Eureka.

More ideas for exploring Northern California.

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers