Those who are familiar with Call of the Wild and White Fang might imagine that author Jack London made his home on the far north, wolf-wrangling by day and brawling in bars by night. But, unlike the protagonists in his earl novels, London chose a settled life in pastoral Glen Ellen – a region he described as “The most beautiful, primitive land to be found in California.”
When London left the hustle and bustle of Oakland – the city which had seen a rise from a factory worker to a well-paid nationally-renown writer – his move possessed a philosophical import of finality.
“All I wanted” London explained “was a quite place in the country to write and load in and get out of Nature that something which we all need, only the most of us don’t know it.”
And London made it clear that this wasn’t a temporary retreat into nature; it was a permanent parading shift. “This is to be no summer-residence proposition,” he assured his publisher in 1905 “but, a home all the year round. I am anchoring good and solid and anchoring fir keeps…”
But, every sailor know that an anchoring is never permanent unless it’s the ships last. And as a young romantic man in his thirties, :London had plenty of voyage left in him, While his ranch was under construction, hw built a ship – the Snark- with the intention of wailing around the worked for seven years. He spent 27 months at sea; his trip concluded in Australia.
While London was disappointed at the journeys early conclusion, he returned to Glen Ellen with renewed focus on developing his Beauty Ranch. He poured $80,000 in building a grand mansion designed by a well known architect.
The house never stood to see dry rot, but burst into flames prematurely leaving behind a stone foundation and chimney . Jack London followed suit, The great writer-one of the first to be both literarily in style and commercially successful pre-mortem- passed away at the age of 40.
The remains and landscape of his life can be found at Jack London State Historic Park. Visitors can witness the ruins of his grand estate and walk through the humble cottage that contained, however briefly, a spark of creativity that still gives heat today, He did not fail to build a fire.
Location: 2400 London Ranch Road
Hours: 9:30 AM – 5 PM
Entry fee; $6 per person
Article courtesy of Farm Trails, an organization supporting agricultural diversity in Sonoma County for 36 years. For this and other articles about our area, order a free Farm Trails guide.
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