JOHN MUIR NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE HALS CA-132 John Muir National Historic Site HALS CA-132 4202 Alhambra Avenue Martinez Contra Costa County California WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA HISTORIC AMERICAN LANDSCAPES SURVEY National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C Street NW Washington, DC 20240-0001 HISTORIC AMERICAN LANDSCAPES SURVEY JOHN MUIR NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE (John Muir Home) HALS NO. CA-132 Location: 4202 Alhambra Avenue, Martinez, Contra Costa County, California John Muir National Historic Site, National Park Service 37.991292, -122.131352 (Center of house, Google Earth, WGS84) Significance: The John Muir National Historic Site is significant as the site of the earliest settlements in Contra Costa County and as the place where the renowned Scottish-American naturalist and preservationist, John Muir, composed his writings from his journals of experiences traveling the wilderness. The Martinez Adobe on the western edge of the site is California Registered Historical Landmark No. 511. The House on the knoll was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1962. Description: The nine acre site that the Strentzel House (Muir Home) and Martinez Adobe occupy are accessible via the Visitor Center on Alhambra Blvd, off of HWY 4. The National Park Service maintains this site as well as the 326 acre Mt. Wanda. Mt. Wanda is a nature preserve and has hiking trails the trailhead of which is located near Franklin Canyon Road. The site has a number of orchards and a vineyard. As one enters the site, the peach orchard is the first orchard encountered. On the eastern side of the house on the knoll is an apple orchard. To the west of the house is a plum orchard, the vineyard, and beyond the creek bridge there is a pear orchard followed by an apricot orchard and an orange orchard. Beyond the orange orchard and south of the adobe is a lemon grove, this area is set back from the Main farm road, in this area there are nut trees, walnut and pecan. The Park Service replanted the orchards and vineyard to create a sense of what the fruit ranch once looked like. In addition to the orchards and vineyard, there are many trees and shrubs. The most famous of these trees is the Giant Sequoia planted by Muir as a sapling. He brought it down from the high country after one of his journeys. It resides on the western side of the house across from the carriage house. The entry of the house is framed by two mature California Fan Palms (Washingtonia filafera), the only palm that is native to the state. Following the path to the left, or the eastern side of the house, is a Morning Cypress (Cupressus Funebris). Continuing on there is a Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) and the shade of an Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana), which is old and very mature at the JOHN MUIR NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE HALS NO. CA-132 PAGE 2 south eastern edge of the house. To the right of the path and next to the house is a Canary Island Palm (Phoenix canariensis), which appears as a young palm in some of the historic photographs of the house. The western side of the house is ringed with nine Incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) and one apple tree (Malus domestica) at the rear of the porch. Back at the front of the house in the middle of the turn-around is a California bay laurel (Umbellularia californica). There is a cache of natives growing on the site. A small stand of Redwoods grow near the southern border of the property line next to Franklin Creek. Some toyon grow along the Main farm road where fig trees used to be. Where this road now terminates, some California Buckeye have been added. In between stands a single surviving old fig tree. Along the western border of the property and the run of the creek, some Coast live oaks thrive. There are some Golden Poppies on the grounds too. Pomegranate bushes grow randomly around the lower areas of the knoll. There is another pair of California Fan Palms that embrace a trio of olive trees at the first rise on the path to the house. There is a bench and a slightly picturesque Canary Island Palm at this spot. The property had changed hands five times since John Muir passed away, the Sax family being the last to have custody. Their intention was to renovate and restore the old Victorian structure that had sat vacant for many years. In the end it proved too costly and the Park Service acquired it in 1964. History: The Ohlone Indians lived in this region. A sub group called the Karkin lived in this part of the Bay. The name is also spelled Carquin, hence Carquinez Strait. The first Spanish who explored this part of the East Bay were soldiers. They were out of provisions and had to forage for food, but found none here. They called the valley “Canada Del Hambre”, the Valley of Hunger. Don Ygnacio Martinez was born in Mexico City and was a Spanish Officer who served at the Presidios’ of San Diego and Santa Barbara from 1799-1819. Eventually he would become the Commandant of the Presidio of San Francisco (1822-1831) and the fourth Alcalde (Mayor) of Yerba Buena (San Francisco) in 1837. In 1823 he petitioned for a grant of land from California’s first Mexican Governor Luis Antonio Arguello and was given title to a tract of land known as Pinole y Canada del Hambre. In accordance with Mexican law he proceeded to build a home and homes of adobe two and one-half miles from San Pablo Bay. He moved his family there in 1836 naming his home Nuestra Senora De La Merced. Don Ygnacio lost his title papers and no record to support his claim was found. He had again to petition in 1837 to Governor Alvarado who made him a four square league grant of Rancho El Pinole in 1842. Don Ygnacio’s family was amongst the earliest settlers in Contra Costa County. A Colonel William M. Smith married his daughter Susana and established the town site of Martinez on JOHN MUIR NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE HALS NO. CA-132 PAGE 3 120 acres. Another son-in-law, Samuel Tennent married his daughter Rafaela and built a house in what is now Pinole. His second son Vicente inherited the portion of Rancho El Pinole that the John Muir Historic Site now occupies. Vicente built the adobe dwelling that occupies the western edge of the site in 1849. He sold the adobe to Edward Franklin on October 6th 1858(this is for whom Franklin Canyon is named). Franklin sold the property to Dr. John Strentzel in 1875, Muir’s future father-in-law. Dr. John Strentzel was of Polish decent; he came from a well to do family and went to school with sons of officials and nobility. In 1830 he became involved with a failed attempt to overthrow the Russian domination of Poland, was forced into exile and moved to Hungary. While in Hungary he gained practical training in horticulture and viticulture and formal training in medicine at the University of Pesth (Budapest), Hungary, receiving a degree in 1839. He immigrated to America in 1840, moved west to Texas, settled there where he met and married Louisiana Erwin, a native of Tennessee, in 1843. In 1847 their first child was born, a daughter, Louie Wanda, and following her, a son, John in 1848. Dr. Strentzel accepted a post as medical adviser to an expedition heading west in 1849, one of many heading to the gold fields of California. The Strentzels settled and took up farming in the Central Valley along the Merced River. After losing the farm to a flood Dr. Strentzel bought 20 acres of land south of the town of Martinez in 1853. The valley was still called “Hambre” at that time and Mrs. Strentzel thought it was a horrible name and renamed it Alhambra. Here Dr. Strentzel started to use his knowledge of horticulture and viticulture to begin experimenting with a wide variety of grapes, fruit and nut trees, and ornamental plantings. As his fortunes increased over the years and demand for his produce grew, he bought additional land and planted large vineyards that included Muscat, Zinfandel and Tokay grapes. His fruit tree orchards included orange, peach, fig, apple, apricot, mulberry, and pear. In spite of his success his only son John contracted diphtheria and passed away in 1857. Their only remaining child, Louie, received all their attention. She was totally devoted to her parents; learning and helping them run their large and thriving business. Dr. Strentzel was an authority on California horticulture and also gave college lectures on agriculture. He was busy organizing the Alhambra Grange at about the time he first met Muir at the home of their mutual friends, the Carrs. John Muir was a Scotsman, born in Dunbar Scotland on April 21, 1838. He immigrated to the United States in 1849 with his father Daniel, younger brother David, and older sister Sarah. They eventually settled in Wisconsin. After building a cabin on their farm Daniel Muir sent for the rest of the family to come join them. John in his younger days was an inventor, and created an early-rising machine that he took to the State Fair in Madison to exhibit. It had a timer of that could be set to tip the bed and deposit the sleeper on the floor. He was awarded $15 for JOHN MUIR NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE HALS NO.