Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site

Last updated

Tao House
Tao House (9242981442).jpg
Tao House in summer
Location Map San Francisco Bay Area.png
Red pog.svg
USA California location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationKuss Road, Danville, California
Coordinates 37°49′28″N122°1′47″W / 37.82444°N 122.02972°W / 37.82444; -122.02972
Area158.6 acres (64.2 ha)
Built1937
ArchitectFrederick Confer
Architectural style Monterey Colonial
Visitation3,652 (2005)
Website Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site
NRHP reference No. 71000137 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 6, 1971 [1]
Designated NHLJuly 17, 1971 [2]
Designated NHSOctober 12, 1976

The Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site, located in Danville, California, preserves Tao House, the Monterey Colonial hillside home of America's only Nobel Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O'Neill.

Contents

History of Tao House

Eugene O'Neill had won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936, and used the prize money to build what he named Tao House above Danville. [3] O'Neill and his wife lived in the home from 1937 to 1944. [4] By the time he moved here, O'Neill had already lived in over 35 places, but he called this secluded house his "final home and harbor". [5] At this home, O'Neill wrote his final plays: The Iceman Cometh , Long Day's Journey Into Night , Hughie , and A Moon for the Misbegotten . [3] Due to a degenerative condition in his hand, he was unable to complete another play after 1943. [6]

O'Neill's study in Tao House, where he wrote many of his last works STUDY IN TAO HOUSE, EUGENE O'NEILL NAT'L HISTORIC SITE, CALIFORNIA.jpg
O'Neill's study in Tao House, where he wrote many of his last works

O'Neill and his wife, actress Carlotta Monterey, showed their interest in Asian art, decor, and thought in preparing the home. [3] The two personally designed the two-story, three-bedroom home from the ground up. [5] The ceilings were dark blue to mimic the sky with dark wood floors representing the earth, as well as Noh masks, Chinese guardian statues, and Chinese lacquerware furnishings throughout the interior. [7] Outside, Carlotta installed a garden in a zigzag pattern which Chinese tradition indicated would keep away evil spirits. [8] They also planted several trees, including pine, almond, and redwood. [7] The O'Neills moved to Boston after World War II. [9]

The house was saved from demolition in the early 1970s. Several women formed the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, including president Darlene Blair and executive vice president Lois Sizoo, in order to raise money to buy Tao House, which had been named a National Landmark in 1971. [10] They did so through several fundraising projects, including benefit performances of Eugene O’Neill's play Hughie featuring Jason Robards. Through their efforts, Tao House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971, [2] a National Historic Site in 1976, and passed into the management of the National Park Service in 1980. The Foundation has produced an annual festival of O'Neill's works since 1999, including performances on site. [11]

Legislative history

Congressman George Miller and Senator Alan Cranston introduced companion bills to have Tao House recognized as a National Historic Site in 1975. AB 4539 was signed into law in Sacramento in September 1976, making the site California State property. George Miller's HR 9126 passed in Congress and, on October 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford signed SB 2398 into law. Tao House and the property were designated a National Historic Site. [12] Finally, on June 12 of 1980, ownership of Eugene O'Neill NHS officially transferred to the federal government, making it exactly under the NPS.

The establishment of Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site is justified by two reasons. First, the site is needed to commemorate Eugene O’Neill, one of the greatest writers in American literature. Eugene O’Neill lived in Tao House from 1937 to 1944, and wrote his most brilliant playwrights. Preserving Tao House will provide public memorial of the works of Eugene O’Neill and his life. Second, the site will serve education and opportunity of performing arts to public. Providing proper cultural sources to society is one of the important missions of National Park Service. [13]

Administrative history

Past superintendents

TermNameRelated National ParksNote
10/18/1976 ~ 03/06/1989Phyllis Shaw John Muir NHS
1989 ~ 1992Craig W. Dorman
1993 ~ 2004Glenn Fuller John Muir NHS & Port Chicago Naval Magazine NM
September, 2005 ~ September, 2010Martha J. Lee John Muir NHS & Port Chicago Naval Magazine NM & Rosie the Riveter-World War II Home Front NHP
December, 2010 ~ October, 2021Tom Leatherman John Muir NHS & Port Chicago Naval Magazine NM & Rosie the Riveter-World War II Home Front NHP
October, 2021 ~ April, 2022Naomi Torres John Muir NHS & Port Chicago Naval Magazine NM & Rosie the Riveter-World War II Home Front NHP Acting Superintendent
April, 2022 ~K. Lynn Berry John Muir NHS & Port Chicago Naval Magazine NM & Rosie the Riveter-World War II Home Front NHP

Current situation

Differed Maintenance Figures
YearDiffered Maintenance
2014$88,367
2015$1,323,688
2016$1,298,269
2017$1,355,781
2018$930,705
FY 2018$129m

Eugene O'Neill Foundation is looking for subscribers.

Archive

The Foundation maintains an archive of Eugene O'Neill-related material at Tao House (including photographs, playbills, manuscripts, posters, and O'Neill's original phonograph record collection) and sponsors events such as productions of O'Neill plays, staged in the adjacent barn.

Visiting the house

The National Park Service does not publish the address of the property, but it is widely known that it is located near Kuss Road in Danville. A locked gate prevents unauthorized vehicles from reaching the site. The Site occupies 13 acres (5.3 ha) accessible via car only by private road, so advance reservations are required to visit. Private vehicles are not allowed. Transportation to the site is provided by a twice-daily free shuttle from Danville at 10am and noon on Wednesdays to Sundays and also at 2pm on Saturdays. Reservations are required except on Saturdays when tours are self-guided. [14]

Trails from Las Trampas Regional Wilderness also lead to the site. Reservations are also recommended for those arriving for a tour via horseback or on foot.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene O'Neill</span> American playwright (1888–1953)

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier associated with Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg. The tragedy Long Day's Journey into Night is often included on lists of the finest U.S. plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. O'Neill is also the only playwright to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danville, California</span> City in California, United States

The Town of Danville is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is one of the incorporated municipalities in California that use "town" in their names instead of "city". The population was 43,582 at the 2020 census. Since 2018, for five years in a row, Danville was named "the safest town in California".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Muir Trail</span> Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California

The John Muir Trail (JMT) is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, passing through Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. It is named after John Muir, a naturalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandelier National Monument</span> United States historic place

Bandelier National Monument is a 33,677-acre (136 km2) United States National Monument near Los Alamos in Sandoval and Los Alamos counties, New Mexico. The monument preserves the homes and territory of the Ancestral Puebloans of a later era in the Southwest. Most of the pueblo structures date to two eras, dating between 1150 and 1600 AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amboy Crater</span> Dormant cinder cone volcano in the Mojave Desert, California, United States

Amboy Crater is a dormant cinder cone volcano that rises above a 70-square-kilometer (27 sq mi) lava field in the eastern Mojave Desert of southern California, within Mojave Trails National Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of the Sierra Nevada</span>

The following is a bibliography of the Sierra Nevada of California, United States, including books on recreation, natural history, and human history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Old Manse</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The Old Manse is a historic manse in Concord, Massachusetts, United States, notable for its literary associations. It is open to the public as a nonprofit museum owned and operated by the Trustees of Reservations. The house is located on Monument Street, with the Concord River just behind it. The property neighbors the North Bridge, a part of Minute Man National Historical Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Cullen Bryant Homestead</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The William Cullen Bryant Homestead is the boyhood home and later summer residence of William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878), one of America's foremost poets and newspaper editors. The 155-acre (63 ha) estate is located at 205 Bryant Road in Cummington, Massachusetts, overlooks the Westfield River Valley and is currently operated by the non-profit Trustees of Reservations. It is open to the public on weekends in summer and early fall for tours with an admission fee.

The Ventana Wilderness of Los Padres National Forest is a federally designated wilderness area located in the Santa Lucia Range along the Central Coast of California. This wilderness was established in 1969 when the Ventana Wilderness Act redesignated the 55,800-acre (22,600 ha) Ventana Primitive Area as the Ventana Wilderness and added land, totalling 98,000 acres. In 1978, the Endangered American Wilderness Act added 61,000 acres, increasing the total wilderness area to about 159,000 acres. The California Wilderness Act of 1984 added about 2,750 acres. The Los Padres Condor Range and River Protection Act of 1992 created the approximately 14,500-acre (5,900 ha) Silver Peak Wilderness and added about 38,800 acres to the Ventana Wilderness in addition to designating the Big Sur River as a Wild and Scenic River. The Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002 expanded the wilderness for the fifth time, adding nearly 35,000 acres (14,000 ha), increasing the total acreage of the wilderness to its present size of 240,026 acres (97,135 ha).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Las Trampas Regional Wilderness</span>

Las Trampas Regional Wilderness is a 5,342-acre (21.62 km2) regional park located in Alameda and Contra Costa counties in Northern California. The nearest city is Danville, California. Las Trampas is Spanish for the traps, or the snares. The park belongs to the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugarloaf Ridge State Park</span> State park in California, United States

Sugarloaf Ridge State Park is a state park in Northern California, United States. Located in the Mayacamas Mountains north of Kenwood, the park straddles the boundary between Sonoma and Napa counties. The park contains the 2,729-foot (832 m) Bald Mountain and the headwaters of Sonoma Creek including a 25-foot (8 m) tall seasonal waterfall. The park is also home to the volunteer-run Robert Ferguson Observatory. Camping, picnicking, horseback riding, mountain biking, stargazing, fishing and hiking are common attractions of Sugarloaf. The park boasts 25 miles of trails with trails ranging from less than a mile to 8.8 miles, and elevation gains reaching 2,500 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monte Cristo Cottage</span> Historic house in Connecticut, United States

Monte Cristo Cottage was the summer home of American actor James O'Neill and his family, notably his son Eugene O'Neill. It is a National Historic Landmark located at 325 Pequot Avenue in New London, Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joaquin Miller House</span> Historic place in Oakland, California

The Joaquin Miller House, also known as The Abbey, is a historic house in Joaquin Miller Park, a public park in the Oakland Hills area of Oakland, California, United States. A crude, vaguely Gothic structure, it was the home of poet Joaquin Miller from 1886 until his death in 1913. Miller was one of the nation's first poets to write about the far western United States. The property, which includes several idiosyncratic monuments created by Miller, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horse Camp</span>

Horse Camp is a property on Mount Shasta owned by the nonprofit Sierra Club Foundation. It is a 720-acre (2.9 km2) enclave within the Mount Shasta Wilderness of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California, United States. It is located at approximately 7,950 feet (2,420 m) elevation at the lower end of Avalanche Gulch, the most popular climbing route on the mountain.

The Silver Knapsack Trail is a 36.2-mile (58.3 km) trail in the Sierra Nevada, near Johnsondale, Springville, and Three Rivers, California. It is located in Sequoia National Forest and the southernmost part of Sequoia National Park. Much of the trail lies within the Golden Trout Wilderness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jensen Alvarado Ranch</span> Historic house in California, United States

The Jensen Alvarado Ranch is a historic park and museum in Jurupa Valley, California, USA, and is operated by the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District. It can be accessed from 4350 Riverview Drive, or 4307 Briggs Street. It was the first kiln-fired brick building built in Riverside County, and is the oldest non-adobe structure in the Inland Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Sierra Camps</span>

The High Sierra Camps are nine rustic lodging facilities located in two national parks and a national monument in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. Open most years from June or July to September, they are staffed camps with tent cabins and food service facilities. The backcountry camps receive their supplies by pack mules.

Satwiwa was a former Chumash village in the Santa Monica Mountains of Newbury Park, California. The current Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center is operated by the National Park Service in cooperation with the Friends of Satwiwa. Satwiwa has been inhabited by Chumash Indians for over 10,000 years. It is situated at the foothills of Boney Mountain, a sacred mountain for the Chumash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hell for Sure Lake</span> Lake in California, United States

Hell for Sure Lake is an Alpine lake located in the John Muir Wilderness, which is part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The lake is at an elevation of 10,768 feet (3,282 m), has a few small rocky islands and is between Red Mountain to the north and Mount Hutton to the south. The Hell for Sure trail and Hell for Sure Pass both are named after this lake with the region being known for its rough terrain. The rocks the surround Hell for Sure Lake and its nearby mountains are estimated to be over 100 million years old.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Tao House". National Historic Landmarks Quioklinks. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 McKinney, John. California's National Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 2005: 135. ISBN   0-89997-387-6
  4. Camble, Robert S. (March 23, 1973). "Eugene O'Neill House" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Inventory Nomination Form. National Park Service . Retrieved May 18, 2012.
  5. 1 2 Schmidt, Shannon McKenna and Joni Rendon. Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Heminway's Key West. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2008: 13. ISBN   978-1-4262-0277-3
  6. McKinney, John. California's National Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 2005: 136–137. ISBN   0-89997-387-6
  7. 1 2 Boeck, Raynell. Peaceful Places San Francisco: 110 Tranquil Sites in the City and the Greater Bay Area. Menasha Ridge Press, 2010: 61. ISBN   978-0-89732-718-3
  8. McKinney, John. California's National Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 2005: 135–136. ISBN   0-89997-387-6
  9. McKinney, John. California's National Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 2005: 137. ISBN   0-89997-387-6
  10. Kaufman, Polly Welts. National Parks and the Woman's Voice: A History. The University of Mexico Press, 2006: 215. ISBN   978-0-8263-3994-2
  11. "20th Annual Eugene O'Neill Festival". eugeneoneill.org. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  12. Lane, Beverly (August 10, 2016). "A Short History of Tao House and East Bay Regional Park".
  13. "Redirecting..." heinonline.org. Retrieved May 3, 2022.{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  14. Reservation page for Tao House