Historic homes of famous authors are my thing. I've never visited one I haven't been completely enraptured with, one way or another, including the time in the Lake District where half of my entire extended family back in the UK had ferried across Windermere with me, on a rainy July afternoon, only to find ourselves about five minutes on the wrong side of the cut off time for last entry of the day into Beatrix Potter's 17th Century farmhouse, Hill Top.
To say this was disappointing was an understatement, though we made the best of it by soaking up the spirit of Potter's immortal Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddleduck and friends with a leisurely wander around the cottage garden and literature's most famous vegetable patch, peeking through tiny, old windows for a glimpse into the cozy lakeland home, maintained by the National Trust precisely as Potter had kept it.
There have been other, more well-timed museum home tours on both sides of the Atlantic, quite a few in fact, yet Jack London State Park, right here in Sonoma County, has been one of my most favorites. In part, due to its proximity to home, a scenic and peaceful half hour drive from Petaluma past the vine-studded outskirts of Sonoma, north to lovely, little, tucked-away and timeless Glen Ellen.
When it comes to an accurate and evocative recreation effort in preserving one of the world's best known writer's domestic history, the Valley of the Moon Natural History Association has not one historic home on its hands in Jack London's extraordinary stomping grounds, but three. And that's a large part of the appeal of Jack London State Park.
Depending upon my particular mood and length of time to visit, I've opted for one or two of a trio of choices and occasionally, time and weather permitting, all three :
The Jack London Cottage: his principal home on Beauty Ranch - a wood-framed cottage purchased by London in 1911 along with the Kohler and Frohling winery buildings. Here he wrote most of his later stories and novels.
Restoration of the cottage was completed in 2006 and opened to visitors. For a slide show of the cottage interior, click here.
The House of Happy Walls: Built by London's wife, Charmian in 1919-26, this house is now a museum. Built with Spanish-style roof tiles and walls of field stone, the House of Happy Walls was lived in by Charmian whenever she was not traveling overseas with London or staying with relatives. After her death in 1955 at the age of 84, her will directed that the house be used as a memorial to Jack London and as a museum to house the London collection of photographs and exhibits on his life and adventures.
Most of the furniture in the house was designed by the Londons and custom-built.
The Wolf House Ruins: London's dream house burned to bare walls on a steamy August night in 1913, just weeks before the couple were due to move in. Haunting though quitely monumental, moss covered ruins stand testament today, to what a truly magnificent home Wolf House would have been.
I took a fern-lined, woodsy, easy to walk solo hike to Wolf House under a mixed forest canopy of oaks, Madrones, California buckeye, Douglas fir, Coastal Redwoods, Manzanita during a spontaneous Saturday afternoon foray in late January sunshine.
Huge stone walls with window openings and fireplaces stand sentinel to the forest in what would have been the most spectacular private home had it not burned, possibly by a pile of linseed oil rags having spontaneously ignited in the unusual heat of that fateful night.
Several trail options weave through this stunningly beautiful park, which is now under threat of closure due to crushing State budget cuts. It seems unthinkable that London's most treasured, personal corner of his well traveled world will be gated and sealed off to literary and nature lovers who seek out this tranquil, remarkable place from all over the globe.
My latest visit cooincided with a group of French teenagers who were taking the same trail in ballet pumps and the latest high fashions from over the pond. I loved hearing their enthusiasm and the clicking of cameras as they stood in awe at the feet of the Wolf House ruins.
Jack London's allure lives on for eternity in such a place as this. I half expected him to ride around a bend on the trail on horseback, as I walked back by neighboring vineyards, the only other sight of another single soul, a lone vineyard worker, diligently pruning ancient vines.
The Vally of the Moon Natural History Assocation is an Internal Revenue Service registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to serving Jack London, Annadel and Sugarloaf State Parks. All are under threat of closure. There is hope that with public support, at least one will remain open.
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