The Joaquin Miller House, also known as The Abbey, is a historic house in
Joaquin Miller Park
Joaquin Miller Park is a large open space park in the Oakland Hills owned and operated by the city of Oakland, California. It is named after early California writer and poet Joaquin Miller, who bought the land in the 1880s, naming it "The Hights ...
, a public park in the
Oakland Hills
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
area of
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, United States. A crude, vaguely Gothic structure, it was the home of poet
Joaquin Miller
Cincinnatus Heine Miller (; September 8, 1837 – February 17, 1913), better known by his pen name Joaquin Miller (), was an American poet, author, and frontiersman. He is nicknamed the "Poet of the Sierras" after the Sierra Nevada, about which h ...
from 1886 until his death in 1913. Miller was one of the nation's first poets to write about the far western United States. The property, which includes several idiosyncratic monuments created by Miller, was designated a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1962.
Description
The Joaquin Miller House stands on the southern edge of Joaquin Miller Park, at the northwest corner of the western junction of Joaquin Miller Road with Sanborn Drive, the park's main circulating road. The house is a modest single-story structure, essentially little more than three separate rooms that have been joined. Two of them are covered by gabled roofs, and have only vague vernacular references to Gothic Revival architecture. The third section is covered by a flat roof which has broad overhanging eaves. To this section is attached a wooden leanto of unknown function.
Joaquin Miller
Joaquin Miller, born in 1837 in Indiana, grew up in the
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Ori ...
, and spent years as a young man in California during the Gold Rush years. Poorly educated, he had a gift for verse and showmanship, and he used his experiences in the far west as material for both his poetry and touring presentations. He was particularly popular in England, and is best known for his 1871 book ''Songs of the Sierras''.
Miller had relocated to Washington, D. C., in 1883 and built a log cabin there while he unsuccessfully attempted a political career. He instead made his way to California and sold the cabin for $5,100 in 1887.
[Marx, Edward. ''Yone Noguchi: The Stream of Fate. Volume I: The Western Sea''. Botchan Books, 2019: 106. ] In 1886 Miller purchased of land in Oakland he named "The Hights". He lived there until his death in 1913. He first built a rustic one-room cabin out of redwood logs for himself and his mother, who joined him from Oregon.
[ He then built a more elaborate home he called "The Abbey", likely named both after his third wife Abigail and as a reference to ]Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
's home Newstead Abbey
Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, England, was formerly an Augustinian priory. Converted to a domestic home following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it is now best known as the ancestral home of Lord Byron.
Monastic foundation
The prio ...
, and hosted literary figures including the young Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
and Frank Norris
Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American journalist and novelist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include '' McTeague: A Story of San ...
.
He planted the surrounding trees and he personally built, on the eminence to the north, his own funeral pyre
A pyre ( grc, πυρά; ''pyrá'', from , ''pyr'', "fire"), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the ...
(eventually used to scatter his previously cremated ashes), and monuments dedicated to Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
, explorer General John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...
, and the poets Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Beginning in 1894, the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi
was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. He is known in the west as Yone Noguchi. He was the father of noted sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
Biography
Early life in Japan
Nogu ...
worked as a laborer in exchange for room and board while living in the cabin adjoining Miller's. He published his first book, ''Seen or Unseen; or, Monologues of a Homeless Snail'' during this time. Though he referred to Miller as "the most natural man", Noguchi found his years living there difficult and later fictionalized his experience in his book '' The American Diary of a Japanese Girl''. He referred to The Abbey as "Miller's sanctum or Holy Grotto".[
Miller died at The Abbey on February 17, 1913, after saying his last words, "Take me away; take me away!" He had built his own funeral pyre at The Hights and asked to be cremated there with no religious ceremony and without being embalmed. His wishes were not followed and his funeral on February 19 drew thousands. He had left no ]will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
and his estate — estimated at $100,000 — was divided between his wife, Abigail, and daughter, Juanita.
Landmark
The Hights was purchased by the city of Oakland in 1919. It was declared a National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1962.[James Dillon (September 23, 1976) , National Park Service and ] The simple Victorian style house is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on October 15, 1966. The landmarked area is in size, and includes the house and the various monuments erected by Miller.
See also
* Joaquin Miller Cabin - Washington, DC
*List of National Historic Landmarks in California
This is a complete List of National Historic Landmarks in California. The United States National Historic Landmark (NHL) program is operated under the auspices of the National Park Service, and recognizes structures, districts, objects, and simila ...
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Joaquin, House
Houses completed in 1886
History of Oakland, California
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California
National Historic Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area
National Register of Historic Places in Oakland, California
Houses in Oakland, California
Victorian architecture in California
1886 establishments in California