John Muir National Historic Site

Infobox_nrhp2 | name =John Muir National Historic Site
nhl = yes
nhs= yes


caption =
location= 4202 Alhambra Avenue, Martinez, California
lat_degrees = 37
lat_minutes = 59
lat_seconds = 29
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 122
long_minutes = 7
long_seconds = 49
long_direction = W
locmapin = California
area =345 acres (1.4 km²)
built =1849
architect= Wolfe & Son; Martinez,Vicente
architecture= Modern Movement, Italianate [http://www.nr.nps.gov/Red%20Books/66000083.red.pdf NPS Red Book] ]
added = October 15, 1966
designated_nhl= December 29, 1962 [http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceID=36&resourceType=Building NHL Summary] ]
established_nhs = August 31, 1964 [http://www.nr.nps.gov/writeups/66000083.nl.pdf NHL writeup] ]
visitation_num = 28,166
visitation_year = 2005
governing_body = National Park Service
refnum=66000083cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

The John Muir National Historic Site, located in Martinez, California, preserves the 14-room mansion where the naturalist and writer John Muir lived, as well as a nearby 325 acre (1.3 km²) tract of oak woodland and grassland 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". The mansion was built in 1883 by Dr. John Strentzel, Muir's father-in-law, with whom Muir went into partnership, managing his 2600 acre (11 km²) fruit ranch.

Muir (and his wife) moved into the house in 1890, and he lived there until his death in 1914. While living here, Muir realized many of his greatest accomplishments, co-founding and serving as the first president the Sierra Club 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.

The Muir house was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1960, became a National Historic Site in 1964, and in 1992, the nearby Mt. Wanda nature preserve was added to the Site. The house is also California Historical Landmark #312 [http://www.noehill.com/contracosta/cal0312.asp] .

References

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/jomu/ Official Park Service site]
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/ca/ Early History of the California Coast, a National Park Service "Discover Our Shared Heritage" Travel Itinerary]
* [http://www.johnmuir.org/martinez/ John Muir Association]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=hhphoto&action=browse&fileName=ca/ca0100/ca0124/photos/browse.db&recNum=0&itemLink=D?hh:1:./temp/~ammem_0K3G::&title2=John%20Muir%20House,%20Alhambra%20Boulevard,%20Martinez,%20Contra%20Costa%20County,%20CA&displayType=1 Historic American Buildings Survey. 1960. Photographs, drawings, description and history]