John Muir National Historic Site

The John Muir National Historic Site is located in the Bay Area of San Francisco, Martinez, Contra Costa County, California. It preserves the 14-room Italianate Victorian mansion where the naturalist and writer John Muir lived, as well as the nearby 325-acre (132 ha) stretch of native oak woodland and grassland, historically owned by the Muir family. The main site is on the edge of the city, in the shadow of State Route 4, also known as “John Muir Parkway.”

The mansion was built in 1883 by Dr. John Strentzel, Muir’s father-in – law, with whom Muir became a partner, managing his 2,600 acre (1,100 ha) fruit ranch. Muir and his wife, Louisa, moved to the house in 1890 and 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 of the Sierra Club, in the wake of his struggle to prevent the Yosemite Hetch Hetchy Valley National Park from being dammed, to play a prominent role in the creation of several national parks, to write hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and several books on the virtuoso.

The Muir House was documented in the 1960 Historic American Buildings Survey. It became a National Historic Site in 1964, is a California Historic Landmark # 312 and a National Historic Landmark, and is registered in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1988 nearby Mount Wanda Nature Preserve (named one of John Muir’s two daughters) was added to the Historic Site.

Climate has a significant impact on the types of plants and wildlife found in the area. The John Muir National Historic Site is located in the east of San Francisco Bay, in the Mediterranean climate region of California. This Mediterranean climate zone occurs along the central and southern coasts of the state, where cool breezes come from the Pacific coast and hot air is drawn from the inland areas of the state. Found in very few other parts of the world, the Mediterranean climate is typically characterized by dry , hot summers and wet, mild winters.

John Muir National Historic Site has one of the world’s largest collections of artifacts, archives and specimens of natural history related to John Muir. The collection is crucial in providing a tangible link to Muir’s life and work through educational programs, research opportunities, and both virtual and on-site / off-site exhibitions.

John Muir National Historic Site has one of the world’s largest collections of artifacts, archives and specimens of natural history related to John Muir. It is crucial for Muir’s life and work to be tangible through educational programmes, research opportunities, and both on and off-site exhibitions. The collection is crucial.