Mendocino as Cabot Cove in “Sticks and Stones”

One of the major projects I intend to achieve through this website is to document the various filming locations that appear on Murder, She Wrote — particularly those that stand in for Jessica Fletcher’s fictional home town of Cabot Cove. As many Murder, She Wrote fans already know, there were two main locations that were used to film the episodes that took place in Cabot Cove: the “Jaws Lake” set at Universal Studios; and the town of Mendocino, California.

In the past, I’ve profiled the Mendocino locations used in the episodes “If It’s Thursday It Must Be Beverly” and “Deadly Lady“. In this post, I will profile the various locations used in yet another episode that was almost entirely filmed in Mendocino — Season 2’s “Sticks and Stones”.

Beverly Gareth’s house

The episode starts with the murder of Beverly Gareth, and almost immediately into the episode we see the sheriff’s car pull up in front of her house.

The house in question is located at the northwest corner of Covelo and Lansing (and also happens to be the same house used as the location for the deputy’s house in “If it’s Thursday it must be Beverly“).

Jessica’s cycling route

A little further into the episode, we see Jessica cycling through town and stopping to talk with Amos Tupper.

This cycling scene is in reality showing Jessica biking west on Ukiah and then turning south on Howard. It is also within a block of the very next scene in the episode…

Jessica’s walking tour through town

Shortly thereafter, we see Jessica giving her house guest (played by Parker Stevenson) a tour of Cabot Cove. They are first seen walking through the town and passing by the mailman — who delivers some poison pen letters to the inhabitants of the nearby houses.

The location of this scene is the north side of Ukiah between Lansing and Howard (and just a few steps away from the location that would later be used as Loretta’s Beauty Parlor in “If it’s Thursday…“.

Cabot Cove Historical Society

The previous scene is briefly interrupted by Jessica pointing out the Cabot Cove Historical Society building to her guest.

While the scene makes it seem like the two locations are just across the street from one another, the building used to stand in for the Cabot Cove Historical Society is actually the Kelley House Museum as seen from its south side on Main Street — a few blocks away.

Site of the old Cabot Cove lighthouse

After walking through the town, Jessica then takes her guest to see the site of the old Cabot Cove lighthouse — which had burned down and is now the site for a prospective condo development.

In reality, the location is in the north/northwest portion of Mendocino Headlands State Park. (I’ve pinpointed the approximate location using Google maps here: https://goo.gl/maps/WK4UW3iUASmpQFTu8 )

Amos Tupper’s house

The action then shifts back to the postal delivery, with the mailman now having made his way to Amos Tupper’s house.

The location of this house happens to be at the northeast corner of Little Lake and Ford — just across the street from Jessica’s house!

Cabot Cove harbor/docks

Jessica’s subsequent jaunts through town take her to some shops down by the docks to get her toaster repaired.

The harbor scenes were actually filmed in the town of Fort Bragg — north of Mendocino. “The Dock Restaurant” that the police cruiser drives past at one point in the episode appears to be the same building that currently houses Noyo River Grill.

Elvira Tree’s house / Gallerie Frederich

Another major location used in the episode is the house of Elvira and Frederich (they each apparently take up different floors of the house — with Gallerie Frederich on the ground floor, while Elvira’s apartment is on the second floor).

In reality, the location of this house is on the north side of Little Lake, between Ford and Kasten. This happens to be just down the street from Jessica’s house; and in fact we see that this is the case in another scene in the episode where Jessica and her house guest walk to check on Elvira in the evening.

As can be seen in the screenshot above, Jessica’s house is just visible on the right side of the picture. In this scene, they are shown to pass by just one other house before stopping in front of Elvira’s.

Cabot Cove Public Library

The next day, Jessica’s errands around town first take her to the Cabot Cove public library, where she is accosted by the condo developers.

In reality, the building used as the exterior of the library is the Crown Hall at the southeast corner of Ukiah and Woodward, which appears to be currently used as an events venue.

Edna’s house

Subsequently, Jessica goes to visit Edna, and at one point the camera angle shifts to show that the Crown Hall/Cabot Cove library is visible from her garden.

This allowed me to pinpoint the filming location of this scene as the southwest corner of Capella and Woodward, just one street north of the library filming location.

Summary of locations

There are two locations I didn’t specifically write about above because they are recurring locations on the show: (1) Jessica’s house; and (2) the sheriff’s station. As many fans might already know, the exterior shots of Jessica’s house were filmed at Blair House Inn on the northwest corner of Little Lake and Ford. The exterior shots of the sheriff’s station were in reality filmed a little north of Mendocino in Russian Gulch State Park, at the California Department of Parks and Recreation building.

Overall, the map of Mendocino below summarizes the filming locations in this episode so you can see how close/far away some of these locations are from each other. The only locations that fall outside this map are the Sheriff’s station (just to the north), and the scenes filmed at the harbor/docks (which are further north in Fort Bragg).