with Dr. Nancy Watson

Recent Articles

Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site

Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site

America’s only Nobel Prize winning playwright, Eugene O’Neill, made his home at Tao House during the height of his writing career. In this secluded retreat overlooking California’s San Ramon Valley, O’Neill found the peace and inspiration to create many of the works that secured his place among the giants of American literature. Between 1937 and 1944, he wrote […]

Danville, California
Richard Nixon Birth Home

Richard Nixon Birth Home

In Yorba Linda, California, tucked within the grounds of the presidential library, stands a small modest farmhouse where Richard Milhous Nixon was born in 1913. The house is a simple white clapboard with narrow rooms and modest furnishings. It reflects the Quaker values of his parents, Frank and Hannah Nixon:  faith, discipline, humility and hard work. […]

Yorba Linda, California
Hearst Castle

Hearst Castle

On our family road trip down the coast of California, we stopped at Hearst Castle, the estate rising above the Pacific along Highway 1. You see if from below first. perched high on the Enchanted Hill, as if it were a Mediterranean palace transported to the rugged California coastline. The house was built for William […]

Simeon, California
John Muir National Historic Site

John Muir National Historic Site

John Muir’s home in California offers a intimate window into the life of one of America’s most influential conservationists. Located northeast of San Francisco, the site is preserved today as John Muir National Historic Site. Muir lived here from 1889 until his death in 1914. While many picture him wandering through Yosemite or Alaska’s glaciers, this […]

Martinez, California