John Muir Home

The house the bronze calls Muir's ranch home was his father-in-law's. Dr. John Strentzel, a Polish-born physician turned fruit grower, built the Italianate mansion in 1882 on a knoll above his Alhambra Valley orchards. The Muirs, living in an older house nearby, moved in only after his death in 1890, to share it with his widow. Muir had spent the 1880s running the orchards, and in the second-floor study he called his scribble den he wrote through the last twenty-four years of his life, including the losing fight for Hetch Hetchy.

What the plaque says

John Muir Home Ranch home of John Muir 1838-1914, explorer, naturalist, author and foremost advocate of forest protection and of national parks. The John Muir Trail through the High Sierra, Muir Woods National Monument and Muir Glacier in Alaska are named for him. Historical Landmark No. 312 Department of Public Works - Division of Highways

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muir Woods National Monument — 25 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.
• Muir Beach Overlook — 26 mi
  A cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.

More markers nearby

• Vicente Martínez Adobe — steps away
• Site of the Murder of Dr. John Marsh — 2.5 mi
• Benicia Arsenal — 3.9 mi
• Benicia Capitol — 4.3 mi