Jack London’s Bay Area mansion burnt down 108 years ago. Today, you can hike to its ruins.

The development of “Wolf Home,” the place the “Name of the Wild” creator would stay along with his spouse Charmian London, started in 1911 on their 1,000-acre Magnificence Ranch on the jap slope of Sonoma Mountain. It could have a mirrored image pool, an intensive library, 9 fireplaces, wooden flooring, and all the trendy facilities of the day: a water heater, electrical lighting, refrigeration, laundry amenities and even a built-in vacuum cleansing system.

After witnessing (and famously documenting) the devastating San Francisco earthquake and fireplace because it unfold in 1906, London didn’t need to take any probabilities with Wolf Home. He ensured his residence’s design included a large concrete basis slab that would help a 40-story constructing, in addition to fire-proof supplies resembling volcanic rock and redwood with its bark nonetheless on.

“Will probably be a contented home — or else I’ll burn it down,” wrote Jack. “Will probably be a home of air and sunshine and laughter.”

However on Aug. 22, 1913, shortly earlier than the Londons have been to maneuver in, these desires went up in smoke. Round midnight, Jack and Charmian, asleep of their close by cottage, awoke to seek out flames licking on the almost accomplished construction. 

By the point they obtained to the scene, it was too late: Wolf Home was destroyed. The grandiose constructing was by no means rebuilt, and Jack died simply three years later. However its charred bones stay — at the moment, you may hike to the ruins of the once-beautiful Wolf Home in Glen Ellen’s Jack London State Historic Park. 

On a latest Friday afternoon, I hiked the half-mile as much as the ruins, which you first glimpse arching eerily via a grove of bay, madrone and redwood bushes. In addition to just a few birds chirping and a lizard scuttling up the aspect of a moss-covered stone wall, it was quiet. A handful of hikers peered eagerly into the burnt-out shell from an overlook.

“The home was designed to suit into the panorama fantastically,” mentioned Susan St. Marie, this system director at Jack London State Historic Park. “It was like a giant lodge in the best way it seemed, with all of the stone work from the quarries that have been throughout the valley, and the redwood with its bark on … And the home was located in order that it had a pleasant view of Sonoma Valley. It is all overgrown now so you do not actually see a view of the valley, however it will have at the moment.”

Whereas the hearth 108 years in the past gutted the inside of the constructing, from its oak and walnut furnishings to its crimson tile roof, a lot of Wolf Home remains to be standing. The castle-like stone partitions tower excessive above the forest flooring with the assistance of contemporary bracing helps, trying decidedly medieval. From the overlook, I peered into the remnants of the mansion, orienting myself with the format of the home. Instantly earlier than me was the hollowed out shell of the pool, the place Jack supposed to swim and preserve fish. Under, within the basement, was the “stag get together room,” subsequent to it, the eating room, the place the hearth is believed to have began. 

For many years, the reason for the hearth remained shrouded in thriller. At first, arson was suspected. 

“As to the origin of the hearth, it might have been the work of a disgruntled worker and it might not,” learn a Press Democrat article in 1913, just a few days after the hearth. 

“Public sentiment ran excessive: and I feel, had the legal or criminals who fired it been detected that evening, there would have been a stringing-up to the closest limbs, in lusty frontier trend,” wrote Charmian in her account of the destruction.

However in 1995, a staff of consultants led by Robert Anderson, a retired engineering professor from San Jose State College, carried out a forensic evaluation of the 15,000 square-foot construction. Though they didn’t utterly rule out arson as the reason for the hearth, they deemed it unlikely. As a substitute, they chalked it as much as the spontaneous combustion of linseed oil-soaked rags left behind within the eating room by employees. It didn’t assist that Sonoma Valley was within the midst of a warmth wave, and the wooden flooring and paneling supplied ample gas for the devastating fireplace. 

Whereas Jack vowed to rebuild, and even began the method, it wasn’t meant to be.

“That they had poured some huge cash into this home, one thing within the neighborhood of $75,000 in that yr’s cash,” defined St. Marie. “Jack was one of many wealthiest or highest incomes authors of his time, however he spent all of it form of earlier than he ever obtained it and labored off of advances. They merely did not have the cash.”

The lack of Wolf Home “killed one thing in Jack, and he by no means ceased to really feel the tragic internal sense of loss,” wrote Charmian in her diary. He died in 1916, succumbing to varied well being points, and was buried on the property. Hikers can go to the author’s grave only a brief hike away, his ashes laid to relaxation beneath a stone from the ruins of Wolf Home — the place Charmian joined him when she died in 1955. 

With all of the tragedy that befell the Londons right here, some consider that the ruins of Wolf Home are haunted. Folks have secretly visited the park in the midst of the evening to go away behind human ashes and wreaths, and within the Eighties, a ghost hunter photographed what he claims to be the ghostly spectre of Charmian on the web site, as described in a superb ebook on Wolf Home written by retired Jack London State Historic Park rangers Matt Atkinson and Greg Hayes. 

St. Marie, nonetheless, doesn’t purchase it. 

“Nicely, I am the improper individual to ask that query, as a result of I do not consider in haunting,” she mentioned. “It’s a really spectacular construction and in numerous sorts of climate and lightweight, it modifications fairly a bit when it comes to the way it appears to be like. However haunted, I’d say no.”

Over a century for the reason that “White Fang” creator died, Jack London State Historic Park is now grappling along with his legacy. Regardless of his popularity as a progressive socialist, Jack additionally printed white supramicist-leaning and racist prose, notably about Asian folks. Final summer time, just a few petitions emerged calling for the renaming of Jack London Sq. in Oakland. 

Presently, the park is working with a staff of London students and educators to be taught extra about London’s views on race, which can inform how park guides speak to guests concerning the creator. 

“It’s vital now that we increase our data and understanding of Jack London’s views on Folks of Shade, as seen via the lens of racial justice and fairness,” learn a portion of a press release on the subject from the Jack London Park Companions. “Raised in a world of contradictions, Jack London had conflicting and conflating experiences and views round race relations all through his life. His story is really advanced. Did Jack London frequently use racist language? Sure. Do most individuals at the moment think about him a racist? Sure. Additionally … it’s difficult. The truth is, you possibly can say that he embodies the very advanced nature of race relations in our nation as an entire.”

Regardless of this re-evaluating of Jack’s legacy, the park has seen an inflow of tourists throughout the pandemic. In 2020, the as soon as hidden gem noticed a 20% to 30% improve in guests from the earlier yr, based on St. Marie. The park has much more to supply than simply Wolf Home: Hikers can roam the Londons’ previous vineyard ruins, the cottage the place the couple resided, the Pig Palace (an innovatively designed pig pen), a museum, and 29 miles of back-country trails via grassy meadows and redwood-filled canyons.

However the Wolf Home ruins, absolutely, are the park’s crown jewel. Standing earlier than its moss-covered stays, it takes solely just a little creativeness to conjure the magnificence of the near-completed citadel; and, consequently, the devastation of a dream home destroyed.

“It isn’t the cash loss — although that’s grave sufficient simply right now,” Jack informed Charmian simply after the hearth, as recounted in her diary. “The primary harm comes from the wanton despoiling of a lot magnificence.”