Iris Jamahl Dunkle was a sixth-grader when she first visited Jack London State Park on a class field trip to view the Glen Ellen âBeauty Ranchâ of the famous writer.
There you can view the remains of his Wolf House, destroyed by fire before it was finished, the cottage where he died, and the rock marking the remains of the man who declared he would ârather be ashes than dust.â
It was some years later that Dunkle began to wonder about the woman who had lived in the other stone house on the grounds. Charmian Kittredge London, Jackâs widow, and his step-sister, Eliza Smith, built the imposing House of Happy Walls. After Charmianâs death in 1955, it became, as she had wished, a museum, and a tribute to the Londonsâ work and their life together.