Ferndale is a beautifully preserved Victorian village in the Eel River valley of Humboldt County. The Main Street Historic District is lined with ornate "butterfat palaces" — the grand homes built by prosperous dairy farmers in the late 1800s — and the whole town has the feel of a living museum, without the stuffiness. The Gingerbread Mansion is the most photographed building in town: a Queen Anne Victorian confection painted in apricot and yellow, dripping with carved wooden ornamentation. The Ferndale Museum provides local history context and houses a working seismograph that has been recording regional earthquakes since 1933.
The town's biggest event is the Kinetic Grand Championship on Memorial Day weekend, a three-day race of elaborately decorated human-powered vehicles that runs from Arcata to Ferndale over land, water, and sand. It is gloriously absurd and draws big crowds.
Ferndale is also the starting point for the scenic Lost Coast drive, one of the most remote stretches of California coastline. The Mattole Road climbs steeply out of town before dropping down to the wild, unpopulated beaches at Cape Mendocino.