California - San Francisco Bay Area - Northern Area Attractions

Jack London State Historic Park Only 1mi/1.6km from Glen Ellen stretches Jack London State Historic Park, where the writer, who committed suicide is buried, and where the ruins of the house he built, Wolf House, are to be found; shortly before it was completed on August 22nd 1913 it was destroyed by fire, the cause of which was never discovered.

In his novel "The Valley of the Moon", published in the same year, London provided a literary memorial to the region around Glen Ellen, and at the same time revived the old Indian legends, according to which the name Sonoma means "many moons" in the Indian language.

In 1919 London's widow had the "House of Happy Walls" built, and today this is the Jack London Museum, with many documents relating to the life of the author, his collection of South Sea Island artifacts, some of the furniture saved from Wolf House, as well as all the contents of his intended workroom (one of the 26 rooms in the destroyed house).

Fort Ross State Historic Park Some 50mi/80km north of San Francisco, on the U.S. 1, lies Fort Ross State Historic Park. From 1812 to 1841 the Russians who built the fort settled here in the hope of being better able to provide Alaska with wheat and other foodstuffs than they could from Russia itself. 95 Russians, as well as Aleutians and Kodiaks, built their village and the fort. Then they began to fish for otters and finally to trade with Spanish California. It is open to debate whether they would have tried later to have taken over more Californian land but the Spaniards had decided in 1769 to occupy Alta California, in order to prevent a possible Russian penetration into the almost uninhabited areas in the west of the American continent. However, in 1812 the Spaniards had still not got past San Francisco Bay towards the north. They first learned of the arrival of the Russians when Fort Ross had already been built.

Inside the wooden fort were the commandant's house, the chapel and two log-cabins - all carefully reconstructed in latter years. Two to three dozen cannons were kept in the cabins.