The park land near the Navarro beach includes several historic buildings . Captain Fletcher 's Inn was built by Charles Fletcher , a Scottish sailor who came to the area in 1851 and was the first European settler on the Navarro estuary . In 1860 , Fletcher sold most of his land to Henry Tichenor and Robert G. Byxbee , who built a lumber mill on it in 1861 . Fletcher then built his inn in 1865 to house sailors in the lumber trade while they waited for their ships to load . In time , a town of 1,000 people sprang up around the mill , called Navarro . A train on the north bank of the river brought logs to the mouth of the river , where they were brought across to the mill on the south bank . The mill closed in 1893 , and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and several fires reduced the town to almost nothing by 1921 ; in 1922 , the road that would become Highway 128 was built , re-using portions of the train bed . The inn remained open until the 1970s ; the Navarro Mill Company House , and the Mill Superintendent 's House ( now home to the Navarro-by-the-Sea Center , a nonprofit group that maintains the buildings ) also remain
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Navarro River Redwoods State Park