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History
Isaiah Stevens built the farmhouse which
is now Glendeven Inn's main building. Emily Etta Stevens Pullen,
his fourth daughter, kept a detailed diary beginning in 1864,
when she and her family made the daring voyage from Maine
to Little River. She continued writing until 1935, just two
years before her death. From Etta's diary and the work of
the Kelley House Museum, we have an interesting account of
the period around the turn of the 20th century in Little River.
In 1856, Silas Coombs and his brother came
from Maine to California in search of gold in the Sierras.
When it became obvious that hardships in the gold fields would
bring limited success, they looked to California's vast redwood
forests.
Familiar with the lumber trade from the forests
of Maine, they came west, where they found work with the Albion
Lumber Company. Shortly after their arrival, they claimed
a large tract of land two miles north of Albion and signed
a logging contract with the operator of the Albion Mill. The
brothers began to build capital for their own venture, a mill
at Little River, and in 1863 they returned to Maine to arrange
for relatives and friends to join them in Little River, In
1864, Isaiah Stevens and his second wife, Rebecca Coombs Stevens
(Silas's sister), and three of their children (including Etta)
left their native Maine to claim acres of virgin redwood forests
on the northern California coast.
They departed on ship from Boston, sailed
south to Panama, traveled by land across the isthmus, boarded
another ship and sailed north around Baja. After an arduous
six weeks, they arrived in San Francisco on July 22. From
there, they continued by stage coach for an additional three
days to reach their uncertain, but hopeful future south of
the new lumber town of Mendocino. In the spring of 1865, the
Stevens family completed the tiny cabin that can be seen in
the photograph, just to the right (east), of the main farmhouse,
which was completed two years later.
In October 1868, Isaiah received a land
grant of 160 acres from President Andrew Johnson. This included
the properties surrounding Glendeven and stretched west all
the way to the Pacific Ocean. On the south side of what is
now Van Damme State Park, Silas Coombs built his family home,
which now houses the restaurant and offices of the Little
River Inn. This property remains in the Coombs-Hervilla family
to this day, and the Park camp area and Visitor Center occupy
the site of the original Coombs lumber mill.
Isaiah Stevens was the comptroller at the
newly formed mill operation and also bred horses and cattle,
as can be seen from the photograph. Isaiah Stevens was known
for his entrepreneurial nature, and over time sold off some
of his land for the town of Little River to be built around
him. A hotel and dance hall, bootery and smithy were established
near his home, and Little River's first post office, with
Isaiah as Post Master, was attached to the rear of the building
that is now Auberge Mendocino.
In 1874, Etta Stevens married Wilder Pullen,
a young man who journeyed from Maine on the same ship as the
Stevens family. Wilder and Etta's first home remains as the
main building of the Heritage House inn, above Dark Gulch.
Much of the land that today makes up the grounds of the Heritage
House was planted in vegetable gardens, and on that sheltered
spot outstanding soft fruits such as peaches, plums and cherries
flourished. In 1913, Etta and Wilder moved back to the Stevens
farmhouse, the main building of Glendeven Inn, in Little River,
where she lived until her death at the age of eighty-eight
in 1937. During her latter years, she frequently boarded local
school teachers.
Etta meticulously maintained the property,
including large barns and outbuildings across the highway
where ranching activities took place. Even though these buildings
have been replaced by meadow and forest, the water that irrigates
the Inn's gardens still comes from the spring which was an
important water source for the ranch and Little River community
in the 1860's.
A great deal is known from Etta's diary about
the comings and goings of Little River's families, beginning
with her journey from Boston and continuing through her lifetime,
and her writings have made the history of Little River settlement
a fascinating tale. A transcribed copy of the diaries are
available in the inn room named "Etta's
Suite".
In 1949, Warren & Dora Zimmer purchased 13
acres from Etta's estate, and during the 1950's they put a
foundation under the farmhouse, added the sun room to the
living room, and expanded the first floor with what today
is the Garden Room, Eastlin Suite's bedroom and the inn office.
In 1977, the Zimmer's sold 2 ½ acres, including
the farmhouse, to Jan and Janet deVries, who created a six-room
bed and breakfast inn called Glendeven, one of the first bed
& breakfast inns on the coast. During their 22 years here,
the deVries's converted the tired and nearly rotten hay barn
into a refined second and third floor residence for their
family, now named The
Barn Loft, designed and built the Stevenscroft
annex, which added four lovely fireplaced inn rooms to the
five rooms in the farmhouse, and created the first floor gallery.
Sharon and Charles "Higgins" Williams purchased
Glendeven from the deVries's in March 1999. Their first project
added a tenth room, the Carriage
House Suite, which opened that summer. In January 2000,
they purchased Little River's former blacksmith shop across
the meadow south of the farmhouse and dubbed it "La Bella
Vista".
Sharon and Higgins continued reassembling
Isaiah Stevens' farmstead when, in 2002, they acquired the
property just south of the farmhouse which included the Fappiano
family's vacation house, now called the "Abalone Shack" and
the meadows and woods east of the inn totaling 10 acres. Over
the years Sharon and Higgins upgraded the infrastructure of
the inn and kept it in spectacular condition. One of the major
upgrades was the installation of a backup electrical generator
capable of powering the entire Glendeven complex which starts
automatically whenever the regular electrical service is interrupted
in winter storms.
In August 2007, John, originally from Michigan,
and Mike, from Magdeburg, Germany, purchased the entire estate
with the exception of the La Bella Vista house where Sharon
& Higgins now reside. John & Mike live in the Fappiano's "Abalone
Shack", and rent out the second and third floor residence
of the old barn - dubbed The
Barn Loft -- as a vacation rental.
John and Mike brought along their small herd
of llamas
to graze in the pastures surrounding Glendeven putting the
"farm" back in "farmhouse". In summer 2008 The Wine Bar[n]
will open in the former gallery space that is now the first
floor of the barn. The inn's reception and wine hour location
will move there as well.
In May 2008 a flock of 25 chicks arrived
at Glendeven and will move into the original farm's coop in
the northeast corner of the property. There will be farm-fresh
eggs very soon, but not to worry, there will be no roosters
to interrupt your sleep!
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