FORT BRAGG, CA., 8/2/25 — “How do we count time? By days and decades or by the contributions of the community that surrounds us?” In Fort Bragg, this dichotomy is front and center through a window installation at the Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics.
Running through the end of September, the bilingual installation features a curated collection of archival photographs, handcrafted textiles, traditional clothing, and other heirlooms from Latino families who began migrating to Mendocino County in the 1950s. These artifacts tell stories of labor, family and resilience, highlighting the vital roles Latinos have played in local agriculture, lumber, education, health care, tourism and businesses.
The installation is a partnership between Fort Bragg radio and podcast producers MendoLatino and the museum as well as part of the Redwood Time Project. Near the museum is the Redwood Round, an 18-foot diameter cross-section of the largest redwood tree ever recorded in Mendocino County.
Counting the rings from the center (pith) to the outer edge (bark) shows how many years the tree lived. The Redwood Round started as a seedling around 190 A.D., and a timeline marked across the round signifies epochs of history such as the end of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne’s rule as emperor of the West, the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, until the tree, at 1,750 years old, was harvested in 1943 and sent to the Union Lumber Company in Fort Bragg.
As part of the Larry Spring Museum’s Redwood Time Project, community members have been helping to build a full-scale fabric replica of the Redwood Round, stitching cloth pattern pieces and sewing timeline markers into the fabric. The sewing aspect of the project is central to expanding the Redwood Round narrative and turning the replica into a participatory artwork that raises the question: “What histories and times do we honor, and how can we reimagine them together?”
That question is central to the “Nuesto Norte/Our North” exhibit now on display at the Larry Spring Museum. Podcasters MendoLatino and museum curators joined together to focus on Latino experiences in Mendocino County, telling stories that until now have mostly remained within close-knit families.
Directors of the Larry Spring Museum were wondering how to incorporate local history into the Redwood Time Project.
“We heard about MendoLatino’s podcasts, and we were asking ourselves at the museum: How can we incorporate their podcast with our Redwood Time Project?” asked Anne Maureen Keating, the museum’s executive director. “It’s their history of local families and very much about their local experience.”
The museum approached MendoLatino co-directors Loreto Rojas and Diana Coryat, which is how the window installation project started, according to Keating.
“The stories of our communities are the story of all of us.”
The exhibit opened with a bilingual public reception on July 11, featuring remarks from MendoLatino’s Rojas and Coryat, along with Keating and artist and museum board member Anne Beck.
“The stories of our communities, evolving and changing, are just the story of all of us,” Rojas said. Collecting stories was the impetus behind MendoLatino —and making those stories available via the exhibit was an obvious next step.
“So many monuments are about war or some historical event or advancement,” Keating said. “The Redwood Round monument has very little to do with the local community. Our response to that was to make a fabric round and have the community highlight what’s important to them, showing our history — human and nonhuman.”
Beck recalled mounting the “Nuestro Norte/Our North” photos and artifacts in the museum’s window: “Before the exhibit officially opened, what struck me was how many people had already begun looking at it. People were driving up in their cars just to stop and look at the window — it’s become a destination window.”
A sign displayed in the museum window captures the spirit of the installation:
“This exhibition is dedicated to the Mexicans, Central and South Americans who migrated and settled here to work, raise their children and become part of a community. They have labored in every industry and have opened many businesses, contributing to the economy and culture of this beautiful coastal region.”
An untold history
For some residents, “Nuestro Norte” represents a long-overdue public acknowledgment of their heritage. One community member, who asked not to be named to protect their privacy, said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a window dedicated to our [Latino] culture here in Fort Bragg, and I’ve lived here since 1988.”
Among the personal stories featured are those of Refugio and Fidela Yañez, who owned a farm near Pudding Creek. Their granddaughter Christina Delgado-Yañez and grandson Alejandro Yañez shared memories of their grandparents during the opening reception.
“This is important to me because it honors my grandfather, who gave us the American Dream,” Delgado-Yañez said. “He arrived here from Coral de Piedra, Zacatecas, with nothing and worked at the G-P [Georgia Pacific] mill until his retirement. I lived on the property — on land he worked hard to buy.”
Yañez grew up on the farm at Pudding Creek, riding horses and taking care of livestock. “My favorite memory is when we would milk the cows, and Grandpa squirted milk in my cousin’s face. We always had a lot of laughs.”
MendoLatino’s Rojas noted, “The idea is for the window exhibit to grow and expand over time with more objects. That’s how we tell stories — with our little objects that carry so many memories.”The window installation is on view through Sept. 30 at the Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics, located at 225 E. Redwood Ave. in Fort Bragg. For more information, call (707) 962-3131 or visit larryspringmuseum.org.