A Look Back at History
Our last day in California was spent drinking up the lush history of the region.
Many historic towns offer self-guided walking tours of notable buildings and homes. As it turns out our B&B, the Hayden Street Inn, was in the guidebook.
We arose this morning, like most mornings, without a grand plan. But after a conversation or two with others and looking back at what could have done earlier in the week, we set a course. Shortly after breakfast we armed ourselves with a historic homes of Healdsburg directory and set off on a self-guided walking tour of the town. Walking tours of historic districts has become a regular for our travels - it gives us a deeper appreciation of how the town evolved from one generation to the next and slowly but surely, we’re learning a little (just a little) about architecture. Healdsburg has a wealth of great historic homes. From the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries we admired examples of Queen Anne, Craftsman, Neo-classical, and Italianate architecture. This town has done a great job of preserving its past and making it highly functional today. Along the tour we took a break at the Oakville Grocery to grab a few picnic items for later in the day.
Jack London Vineyard seen through the ruins of the winery once standing on the ranch.
Heading south we returned to Glen Ellen to visit the Jack London State Historic Park. Neither of us knew much about Jack London other than he was a writer. After a full afternoon of walking the park and strolling the visitor’s center we learned that London was much more than a writer. Yes, he authored over 50 books plus numerous essays and articles, but he was also an adventurer, and more importantly to London himself, a farmer. On Beauty Ranch London experimented with various land conservation farming methods and animal husbandry. The park is essentially an interpretive center featuring his cottage, farm buildings, the House of Happy Walls (built by his wife Charmian shortly after Jack’s death), and the remnants of Wolf House. Wolf House was London’s dream home that was destroyed by fire just weeks before moving in. Today the stone work still stands serving as a 15,000 square foot monument to London.
Picnic tables are strategically located throughout the park so we opened our bag of tasty morsels purchased earlier in the day: locally made manchego-style cheese, salami, olives stuffed with Point Reyes Bleu Cheese, and an artichoke and olive salad.
There were no wine tastings for the day but I did make a wine-relate to our hike. Long before London purchased the ranch there was an existing vineyard and winery. Only the stone foundation of the winery exists today but the vineyard still produces excellent Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel fruit.
The sun began to set on the day and on our adventure. We made our way back to the car, headed south crossing the Golden Gate Bridge just as it all began. Farewell California, until the next time.
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