Jack London Ranch: the Beauty Ranch and nearby sites

Pig Palace at Jack London Ranch

In 1905 the America novelist Jack London (1876-1916) and his wife Charmian moved to Glen Ellen, located fifty miles north of San Francisco, nestled between Petaluma and Napa. In the early 1900's, Jack London had purchased a large ranch and buildings in the Glen Ellen neighborhood. 

Private vineyard next to Jack London Ranch with forested Sonoma Mountain hills in the back

The Jack London State Historic Park map shows the Jack London Ranch and its surroundings in detail [pdf map]. As an introduction to the park, I started with the House of Happy Walls Museum and the Wolf House ruins on my first visit in October this year. Then, I explored the Beauty Ranch. This is a wood-framed cottage, which served as the London's principal home.

The Beauty Ranch cottage

Below, I show nearby sites defining the ranch and highlighting Jack London's many interests. Descriptions and quotations taken from onsite interpretive boards supplement selected pictures. 

Old Winery ruins next to cottage, backdropped by Sonoma Mountain ridge

The Old Winery ruins are all that remains of the Kohler and Frohling winery building: “Damaged by the 1906 earthquake, the structure was later converted by the London's into living quarters for their many workers and guests.” 

Prickly Pear Cactus: spineless or not spineless?

Jack London saw fine, fat cattle in Hawaii living well on spined cactus and wanted to duplicate the success of Hawaiian ranchers. He planed this field with Spineless Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia avalon, developed by renowned horticulturalist Luther Burbank. Between 1907 and 1913, Burbank promoted it as cattle feed.

This experiment failed. Spineless cactus needed irrigation for rapid growth, and some plants grew back their spines.

Manure Pit

The Manure Pit was built between the stable for Shire mares (former Sherry Barn) and the Stallion barn: “The Manure Pit was constructed circa 1915. An overhead trolley was used to efficiently move manure in buckets.”

Eucalyptus crop rows

Walking from the winery ruins to the silos, Pig Palace and Smoke House, you will pass crop rows occupied by offspring trees Jack London had planted in the hope that “harvesting eucalyptus would pay for other experiments. In 1910, 15,000 seedlings cost him only $150. Eventually, heplanted 80,000 trees, of three species: E. viminalis, E. tereticornis, and E. globulus. Unfortunately, London's experiment failed. The trees were only useful as firewood.” 

Pig-pens on a circle around a central feed tower 

Bath House at London Lake

Getting there and beyond

After passing the Entrance Kiosk, turn right to the Upper Lot, which features an Equestrian Staging section. Short trails, including the 0.1 mile-short Horse Trail, connect the parking lot with ranch locations and a multitude of other trails. A dirt-road trail skirts the vineyard, leading to the old bath house at London Lake and, farther, to an amazing network of trails, which provide access to natural and recreational sites of interest—such as the Ancient Redwood—and the Sonoma Mountain Ridge Trail.

Ancient redwood tree

Today, many redwoods are preserved within California's state and national parks. They are regarded as “natural wonders not only for how long they have been on earth, but also for their height, mass, and hardiness. With trunks as straight as columns and taller than a 25-story building, redwoods have a splendor that attracts visitors from around the world.” Obviously, this one is not simply a straight giant, but branches out into strangely curved arms carrying their own straight columns and hanging branches.

   

Jack London State Historic Park: from the House of Happy Walls Museum to the Wolf House

Where Jack and Charmian London never came to live in: the burnt-out Wolf House (Fire: August 1913, photo 110 years later: October 2023)

The Jack London State Historic Park includes Jack London's Beauty Ranch, the Wolf House Ruins, the grave site knoll, a museum, historic orchards and many hiking trails varying in length, steepness and visitor traffic. 

House of Happy Walls Museum

Books by the Brain Merchant

On my first visit to the park, I started out along short wooded trails and the service road that connect the House of Happy Walls Museum with the Grave Site Knoll and the burnt-out Wolf House. The museum, a field-stone home named the House of Happy Walls, was built by Charmian London after her husband's death in 1916. Originally designed as both, her place to live and a memorial to Jack London, the building today features Jack's adventures around the San Francisco Bay Region and around the globe. Jack London saw himself as a “brain merchant,” embellished by his kaleidoscopic personality. His “insatiable drive to see, to live, to do”—the words in which a museum panel describes Jack's explorative way of life—resulted into the publication of over 50 books.

Trail downhill from the museum

A 0.3-mile-long path leads downhill from the museum to a service road. Turning left onto this road, it just takes a few minutes to get to the point where the road bends south. On the left side, a short spur trail makes a half-circle up onto the knoll to the site of two graves: the grave of Jack and Charmian London and the grave of David and Lillie Greenlaw, the children of pioneer settlers.   

Earle Labor writes that Charmian London was faithful in honoring Jack's wish to be buried on the knoll near the graves of the two Greenlaw children [1].

Jack London's Grave: a fenced-in large rock from the Wolf House site

In a State Park edition of Jack's non-fiction The Cruise of the Snark [2], I found the following detail about the grave site: “On November 26, 1916, in a silent ceremony, Charmian London placed her husband's ashes on the chosen knoll under a large rock from the Wolf House. After she passed away in 1955, Charmian's ashes were laid under the same rock, next to Jack.”

David and Lillie Greenlaw graves, enclosed in a small square of ancient fence

According to a state park panel, Jack London was inspired by the graves of David and Lillie Greenlaw, the children of pioneer settlers, and requested that his ashes might someday lie next to little David and Lillie. 

Returning to the service road, it only takes a few minutes to continue the downhill stroll to the site of the Wolf House. Jack London was known under the nickname “The Wolf”, making a reference to wolves and dogs that he turns into “his readers best friends” in so many of his stories.  When the architect Albert Farr started in 1911 the design of Jack's dream home, people would call it the the Wolf House. 

Unfortunately (or luckily, considering a potential death by fire), Jack and Charmian never moved in. A panel at the site of the Wolf House ruins reports why: “A month before the Londons were to move in—August 22, 1913—a fire probably caused by spontaneous combustion destroyed the home.” This comes as a surprise, since Jack and Albert—influenced by the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake—developed a robust construction plan based on a rustic, fireproof design with local volcanic rock and unpeeled redwood mounted on a concrete foundation that could hold a 40-story building.

Wolf House Ruins

The panel also describes the future home, which the Londons lost: “The four-story, 15,000-square-foot house commanded a view of of the Sonoma Valley. Its 26 rooms and 9 fireplaces cost about $50,000, and included such modern conveniences as hot water, heating, electric lighting, and refrigerating and vacuum cleaning plants.”

Wolf House with most walls and chimneys still standing

Getting there

Driving north on Arnold Drive in Glen Ellen, turn left on London Ranch Road. Follow this road to its end, which is the Entrance Kiosk of the Jack London State Historic Park. Once you are inside, turn left for parking at the Museum Lot. 

References and more to read

[1] See page 383 in Earle Labor's biography:  Jack Lonodon - An American Life. First paperback edition published in 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York.

[2] See page 332 in the following Jack London State Historic Park Museum Edition: Jack London. The Cruise of the Snark. SeaWolf Press, Orinda, CA 94562, 2017 (originally published in 1911 by The Macmillan Company).