John Muir National Historic Site
{{short description|National Historic Site of the United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = John Muir National Historic Site
| designated_other1 = California
| designated_other1_number = 312{{cite ohp |id=312 |name=John Muir Home |access-date=2012-09-05}}
| nrhp_type = nhl
| nrhp_type2 = nhs
| image = John Muir NHS.jpg
| caption =
| location = 4202 Alhambra Avenue, Martinez, California
| coordinates = {{coord|37.991311|-122.133298|region:US-CA_type:landmark_source:GNIS|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = San Francisco Bay Area#California#USA
| area = {{convert|345|acre}}
| built = 1883
| architect = Wolfe & Son; Martinez, Vicente
| architecture = Italianate-Victorian{{cite web |title=National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings |url={{NHLS url|id=66000083}} |publisher=National Register of Historic Places |access-date=13 April 2012}}
| added = October 15, 1966
| designated_nrhp_type = December 29, 1962{{cite web |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceID=36&resourceType=Building |title=John Muir House |publisher=National Historic Landmark Program |access-date=13 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008160420/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceID=36&resourceType=Building |archive-date=8 October 2012 }}
| designated_nrhp_type2 = August 31, 1964
| visitation_num = 49,376
| visitation_year = 2016
| visitation_ref = {{NPS visitation|accessdate=2017-05-10}}
| website = [http://www.nps.gov/jomu John Muir National Historic Site]
| refnum = 66000083{{NRISref|2008a}}
}}
The John Muir National Historic Site is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, in Martinez, Contra Costa County, California. It preserves the 14-room Italianate Victorian mansion where the naturalist and writer John Muir lived, as well as a nearby 325-acre (132 ha) tract of native oak woodlands and grasslands historically owned by the Muir family. The main site is on the edge of town, in the shadow of State Route 4, also known as the "John Muir Parkway."{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/jomu/planyourvisit/directions.htm |title=Directions |publisher=John Muir National Historic Site, National Park Service |access-date=13 April 2012}}
History
=Mansion=
The mansion was built in 1883 by Dr. John Strentzel, Muir's father-in-law, with whom Muir went into partnership, managing his {{convert|2600|acre|adj=on}} fruit ranch. Muir and his wife, Louisa, moved into the house in 1890, and he lived there until his death in 1914.
=Alhambra Trestle=
{{main|Muir Trestle}}
In 1897, for the sum of $10, Muir and Louisa ceded a right of way to the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad.{{cite web |title=John Muir and the Alhambra Trestle |author=National Park Service |author-link=National Park Service |publisher=Sierra Club |url=https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/pdf/Alhanbra_Valley_Trestle_Muir_Station_NPS.pdf |access-date=August 5, 2020}} The document describes the land upon which the Alhambra Trestle is located. The railway was completed in 1900 and used by the Muirs to ship their fruit.
=Preservationist=
While living here, Muir realized many of his greatest accomplishments, co-founding and serving as the first president of the Sierra Club,{{cite web |title=The John Muir Exhibit |url=http://www.sierraclub.org/JOHN_MUIR_EXHIBIT/ |publisher=Sierra Club|access-date=13 April 2012}} in the wake of his battle to prevent Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley from being dammed, playing a prominent role in the creation of several national parks, writing hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and several books expounding on the virtues of conservation and the natural world, and laying the foundations for the creation of the National Park Service in 1916.
The home contains Muir's "scribble den," as he called his study, and his original desk, where he wrote about many of the ideas that are the bedrock of the modern conservation movement.{{cite web |title=Museum Collections at the John Muir National Historic Site |url=http://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/jomu/index.html |publisher=National Park Service Museum Management Program |access-date=13 April 2012}}
=Archive and Landmark=
The Muir house was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1960.{{cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&action=browse&fileName=ca/ca0100/ca0124/photos/browse.db&recNum=0&itemLink=Dhh:1:./temp/~ammem_0K3G::&title2=John%20Muir%20House,%20Alhambra%20Boulevard,%20Martinez,%20Contra%20Costa%20County,%20CA&displayType=1 |title=John Muir House |publisher=Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress |access-date=13 April 2012 }}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
It became a National Historic Site in 1964, is California Historical Landmark #312 and a National Historic Landmark, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1988 nearby Mount Wanda Nature Preserve (named for one of John Muir's two daughters) was added to the Historic Site.{{cite web|title=Testimony before the Subcommittee on National Parks |url=http://www.nps.gov/legal/testimony/108th/jmuir.pdf |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=13 April 2012}}
The John Muir National Historic Site offers a biographical film, tours of the house and nature walks on Mount Wanda.{{cite web |title=Things To Do |url=http://www.nps.gov/jomu/planyourvisit/things2do.htm |publisher=John Muir National Historic Site, National Park Service |access-date=13 April 2012}}
The site includes the Vicente Martínez Adobe.
Gallery
File:John Muir home windmill .tif| John Muir home windmill
File:John Muir home California Historical Landmark 312+Muir National Historic Site.tif|John Muir home, Martinez, CA
File:California Historical Landmark 312+Muir National Historic Site John Muir home.tif|Farm wagon, John Muir home, Martinez
File:Mount Wanda-John Muir National Historic Site.jpg|Hiking trail along Mount Wanda within the Historic Site
File:John Muir House MM 3712.tif|John Muir house, Martinez
File:Muir Trestle, Martinez, CA.jpg|The 1680-foot-long, 80-foot high steel "Muir Trestle", a.k.a. "Alhambra Trestle", in Martinez, owned and operated by the BNSF Railroad.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website |http://www.nps.gov/jomu/}}
- [http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/ca/ National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary: "Early History of the California Coast"]
- [http://www.johnmuir.org/martinez/ John Muir Association]
- {{HABS |survey=CA-1890 |id=ca0124 |title=John Muir House, Alhambra Boulevard, Martinez, Contra Costa County, CA}}
- {{cite gnis |id=226274 |name=John Muir National Historic Site}}
{{commons category}}
{{Protected areas of California|NPS}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in California}}
{{Authority control}}
Muir, John National Historic Site
Category:Houses completed in 1883
Category:1883 establishments in California