[category]
[title]
In the earlier part of the 1900s, Jack London was a household name everyone knew: the highest-paid, most widely-read American author at the time. Prolific and adventurous, he wrote more than 50 books (novels and travelogues), hundreds of short stories and a profusion of articles.
In the woods of Glen Ellen, California, near wine country, he engaged San Francisco architect Albert Farr to build a gorgeous, sprawling four-story mansion called Wolf House, alluding to the popularity of his wolf stories like White Fang and The Call of the Wild. Within its floor plans were 15,000 square feet of literary coziness: 26 rooms with nine fireplaces, a library, a music alcove, a courtyard with a reflection pool, a stag party room, a manuscript vault, a two-story living room, a gun and trophy room, Jack’s “work den” (like a wolf, right?), and “Jack’s sleeping tower” on the fourth floor.
Tragically, in 1913, only a month before Jack and his wife Charmian were to move into the home, it burned to the ground, although some of the stone walls remain standing to this day—and it looks like a castle ruin in Europe. Three years later, the author was dead at the early age of 40, a victim of kidney failure. Signage at Wolf House indicates that Jack “never recovered from the blow,” intimating that the loss worsened his failing health and possibly resulted in his death.
Today, the scorched remains of the house can be found by a short, bucolic hike through wildflowers and woods at Jack London State Historic Park (open daily with a $15 vehicle fee). It’s open to the sky and lacking most of its height, but you can imagine the majestic nature of what was intended to be an Arts and Crafts–style mansion, designed by San Francisco’s Albert L. Farr.
Seasonally, Wolf House is covered in moss, its walls canting and propped up by iron bars. Fireplaces hover in mid-air, the floors they once anchored gone. Staircases lead to nowhere. It’s an enchanting, haunting site. All around the site, massive coastal redwoods tower above, dappling the sunlight that falls on the doomed ruins.
On the grounds of the park, you can also tour the House of Happy Walls Museum (the couple’s home they planned to leave for Wolf House), see their graves and, best of all, walk the 29 miles of trails through this incredible landscape owned by a writer who adored the outdoors. The museum has fascinating displays: For instance, who knew Jack London was an early surfer in Hawai’i, using a 10-foot redwood plank longboard?
Or that he built his own boat, the Snark, and then tried to sail it all around the world with Charmian? They went from the West Coast as far as Fiji, the South Pacific and Australia—many of the objects inside the House of Happy Walls Museum are things they brought back from this voyage—but his health failed him and they had to sell the ship and come home.
Jack got a head start on being an interesting guy even back when he was just a 15-year-old kid: He was an “oyster pirate” in San Francisco Bay, diving to bring up bivalves stolen from commercial fishers and sell them, illegally. Later, he thought better of the crime and instead joined the Fish Patrol to enforce fishing regulations. He was a professional boxer, fought for social justice, went to the Klondike as part of the Gold Rush and adopted sustainable farming practices way before other people were thinking about it—and wasn’t too hard on the eyes to boot.
This year is Jack London’s 150th birthday and throughout 2026, the park will be offering specialized events like lectures, free days, a new online guide to the park and a collaboration with fitness app Strava. That collaboration is the JL150 Challenge, which encourages you to complete 150 miles on those 29 miles of trails in the park in about six weeks… which will require 15 park visits, perfect for those nearby!
Although Jack’s pop culture fame hasn’t endured as much as we might’ve wished, alert movie-goers would have noted that in 2020, a major motion picture starring Harrison Ford, The Call of the Wild, was based on his 1903 novel of the same title.
If you can’t find time to read his work, at least read this famous quote of his, which is basically Jack calling from beyond the grave to end your doomscrolling and get off the sofa: “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
Jack London State Historic Park (2400 London Ranch Rd, Glen Ellen, CA) is open daily from 9am to 5pm; the museum is open from 10am to 5pm and the cottage from noon to 4pm. Admission costs $15 per vehicle.