![]() ![]() ![]() His widow built a stone house on the ranch and after her 1955 death it became a museum and state park. This is all on display to today’s visitors, including the small cottage where the Londons lived and where Jack died in 1916 at age 40. They built their dream home, a magnificent mansion called Wolf House, which burned down just before they could move in. They threw themselves into innovative farming, building concrete silos (unheard of in California) and a fancy stone piggery, devising irrigation and liquid manure fertilization systems, planting eucalyptus trees and “spineless” cacti, raising award-winning livestock. ![]() He and his wife Charmian began assembling their Beauty Ranch in 1905, putting together seven different properties over the years. Some who come to the park know of Jack London only vaguely as some dog-story writer guy, conjuring distant memories of middle-school reading assignments for “Call of the Wild” and “White Fang.” But when Jack London lived there he was a world-famous big deal. There is so much to see and savor at this place you could spend a lifetime exploring and still not see it all. It is foolish to schedule a quick visit to Jack London State Historic Park - unless you intend on stopping by again, and again, and again. In this series, the Index-Tribune guides readers through every regional, county and city park in Sonoma Valley. ![]()
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