The wildfires that have ripped through much of Napa and Sonoma counties have spared the historic buildings in Jack London State Historic Park.
“We have been very fortunate,” Tjiska Van Wyk, the park’s executive director, wrote in an email. “While many homes were destroyed on London Ranch Road, which takes you to Jack London Park, the park so for remains safe from fire damage.”
Van Wyk added that state park rangers were at the park “despite risks, packaging and saving irreplaceable London memorabilia.”
Ranch residents, she wrote, “have done a tremendous job of putting out hot spots before they spread to prevent damage to historic buildings, and firefighters have contained fires in Glen Ellen village. However, fires continue north of us.”
The 1,400-acre Jack London State Park is home to several historic buildings where London and his second wife, Charmian, lived. They include a wood-framed cottage, where London wrote novels and stories late in life, and a museum that was built after London died in 1916.