Museum in the Redwoods

Wanna find some solitude to read more this year? Get inspired at a literary museum and an adjacent hiking trail leading to famous ruins tucked among redwoods. The all new House of Happy Walls in Sonoma Valley’s Jack London State Historic Park just opened in early November, featuring a wholly revamped and modernized exhibit of the life and times of adventure writer Jack London and his wife Charmian.

Explore 22 multi-sensory and interactive exhibits highlighting London’s literary career, political activism, animal rights initiatives, photojournalism, and more—including, notably, his adventurous life with Charmian. An independent-minded trailblazer, Charmian London built the original House of Happy Walls after her husband’s death, intent on having it become a museum representing their pursuit of a storied life.

After visiting the two-level museum and bookstore, head out on a short hike under a forested canopy including second-growth redwoods to the ruins of London’s dream home, Wolf House, which mysteriously burned down just two weeks before he and Charmian were to move in. The London gravesite is tucked among trees on a nearby knoll.

The hike to the ruins is dog-friendly!