The John Muir National Historic Site is located in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, in Martinez,

Contra Costa County, California ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

. It preserves the 14-room

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

Victorian mansion where the naturalist and writer

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...

lived, as well as a nearby 325-acre (132 ha) tract of native oak woodlands and

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

s historically owned by the Muir family. The main site is on the edge of town, in the shadow of

State Route 4 Route 4, or Highway 4, may refer to several highways in the following countries: International * AH4, Asian Highway 4 * European route E04 * European route E004 * Cairo – Cape Town Highway Albania * SH-4 road in Albania from Durres to Kakav ...

, also known as the "John Muir Parkway."

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 fruit ranch. Muir and his wife, Louisa, moved into the house in 1890, and he lived there until his death in 1914. Jomu Martinez, Ca 020419pu

Alhambra 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 The San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad was a California rail line between Stockton and Bakersfield constructed in the late 1890s and very shortly thereafter purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and became their Val ...

. 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 The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

, in the wake of his battle to prevent

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

Hetch Hetchy Valley Hetch Hetchy is a valley, a reservoir, and a water system in California in the United States. The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. For thousands of years bef ...

from being

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

med, 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 The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

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 conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the f ...

Archive and Landmark

The Muir house was documented by the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

in 1960. It became a National Historic Site in 1964, is

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

#312 and 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 ...

, and is 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 ...

. In 1988 nearby Mount Wanda Nature Preserve (named for one of John Muir's two daughters) was added to the Historic Site.

John Muir National Historic Site

The John Muir National Historic Site offers a biographical film, tours of the house and nature walks on Mount Wanda.

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 BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

References

External links

*
National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary: "Early History of the California Coast"John Muir Association
* * {{Authority control H

Muir "Muir" is the Scots word for "moorland", and Scots Gaelic for "sea", and is the etymological origin of the surname and Clan Muir/Mure/Moore in Scotland and other parts of the world. Places United States * Muir, Willits, California, a former unin ...

Martinez, California

Muir, John National Historic Site

Houses completed in 1883

Bay Area Ridge Trail

1883 establishments in California Protected areas established in 1962

National Historic Landmarks in California