John Muir National Historic Site
| John Muir National Historic Site | |||
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| Location: | California , United States | ||
| Next city: | Martinez | ||
| Surface: | 1.4 km² | ||
| Founding: | August 31, 1964 | ||
| Visitors: | 29499 (2006) | ||
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John Muir National Historic Site is a memorial and a museum type of a National Historic Site in Martinez , California. It preserves the Victorian home of the writer, naturalist, natural philosopher and conservationist John Muir (1838–1914).
The spacious building with 14 living rooms and bedrooms was designed in 1883 by the architects Wolfe & Son; Martinez, Vicente, built by Muir's father-in-law, doctor John Strentzel. After marrying Louie Strenzel, Muir managed the Strenzel family's extensive orchards with 12,600 acres from 1880 to 1891. There were also smaller areas that he bought himself over the years. Most of the work was done by Chinese workers . Muir put all his energy into running the business, optimizing the cultivation methods and varieties, and complaining about the hard work. After the death of his father-in-law, he moved into the house with his wife in 1890 and lived there until his own death in 1914. After his own plantations were very successful, Muir was able to retire from the business in 1891 and transfer the business to his brother-in-law, his husband Sister Sarah, handed over.
He resumed his writing, which had completely fallen asleep during the years of management, and became a successful natural philosopher beyond the natural sciences and developed the thoughts of nature conservation, especially from philosophical motives. The following year he was instrumental in founding the Sierra Club . Muir spent the rest of his life in this house and raised his three children here. Nevertheless, he declared in a frequently quoted sentence: “Going to the mountains is going home” (going to the mountains is going home). His idea of the wilderness as an ideal expressed therein is also attributed to his previous hard work in the cultivated, designed landscape.
After Muir's death in 1914, his daughter Wanda managed part of the plantation with her husband Tom Hanna and their children until their second son, John Muir Hanna, moved with his family to Napa in 1950. The house, however, was well maintained until 1952, when it stood empty for two years and was neglected until it was purchased in 1955 by Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Sax and was partially repaired and furnished.
The building and the approximately 3 hectare orchard are now on Highway CA 4 , which runs parallel to the railway viaduct ( Muir Trestle ) built in 1900 over the orchards . On December 29, 1962, the house was granted National Historic Landmark status . In 1964, John Muir House was designated a National Historic Site and placed under the administration of the National Park Service . On October 15, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a monument. In 1992, another good square kilometer of the Strenzels' former property was acquired. The area is on the other side of the highway in the hills of Mount Wanda, named after Muir's daughter . It is covered with a loose oak forest.
In the house there is an exhibition on the life and work of John Muir, which also includes his study. Almost all of Muir's works were created there, and the room has largely been preserved in its original state. The visitor center offers guided tours through the house and at irregular intervals through the property.
literature
- David Hickman: John Muir's Orchard Home . In: Pacific Historical Review , Volume 82, Number 3, August 2013, pages 335–361 ( online as PDF with different pagination)
Web links
- National Park Service: John Muir National Historic Site (official site; English)
- National Park Service: online exhibition of the John Muir National Historic Site on the life and work of John Muir
- Vida Germano: History through Architecture and Agriculture - John Muir National Historic Site
- Architectural drawings of the house in the Library of Congress
Individual evidence
- ^ Hickman 2013, p. 336
- ↑ Hickman 2013, page 359 f.
- ^ John Muir House, Alhambra Boulevard, Martinez, Contra Costa County, CA
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: California. National Park Service , accessed August 1, 2019.
- ↑ Entry in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed May 21, 2016