John Muir National Historic Site in Vallejo

Hidden. Unappreciated. GemLow key. Friendly Park rangers. Accessible history. Visit next time you are in the SF Bay area.

What a cool hidden gem for someone who helped make it possible for us to visit national parks! Loved the grounds and getting to visit grapes, olives, etc! And of course getting to ring the bell! 🔔

Highly recommend! Self guided tour or private tours available for the grounds. They even allow guests to pick certain fruit on the property depending on the time of year. Cant wait to take my family to check it out!

Great films to provide historical significance and development of our national parks and his dedication to finding and documenting trees, animals and creepy crawlers.

The Park Rangers posted here were very friendly and really cared about the history.Well worth the visit. Thank you...

Wonderful visitIf you love National Parks, it is a must see

Very cool historical site. You can learn and have fun

Easy access—its right off of CA Highway 4. A lot of useful information. I didnt realize Muir became wealthy owning a fruit orchard. This allowed him to retire and attend to his love of conserving nature. Definitely a site to check out if youre in the SF Bay Area!

Great afternoon with the kids. Great little history lesson. Cant believe this place still doesnt charge admission. Great local treasure.

Such a great local treasure. This is one of the most important people in our nations park systems history. Go visit. Learn and support. Really nice grounds to stroll around and lots of local fruits you can snack on with kiddos all summer. We had figs and an apple and the grapes were almost ready. Excellent historical house with very very cool lookout up top. Very nice guides and staff. Good facilities kinda small parking lot but people come and go quickly.

Pleasant place to see the trees and fruits. Good place for children to Enjoy.

Beautiful Home of the legendary John Muir. All of the national park rangers were extremely helpful and very kind.If you’re a fan of John Muir this is a must see!

The John Muir National Historic Site is a wonderful historic site that will serve to teach about the historic significance John Muir made in America to preserve natural resources and create Americas National Parks.There are several other nearby National Parks or Historic Site to honor and see John Muirs lifetime work.The John Muir National Historic Site is located on his homestead and farm. Visiting you will step back in time to a simpler day, enjoy wonderful stories about John Muir, his family, his values, and the difference he made in America that lives on today and forever.Do yourself a favor and check out the John Muir National Historic Site, you will not be disappointed!If you find my review helpful, please click on the thumbs-up 👍 icon!You can also follow my posts in Google Maps.Thank you!

Its free! Theres self guided tour. Also, you can visit up to the bell tower. The orchard has a variety of fruits to see.

This is a really nice place to go to when all the fruits are ripe, becuase you can pick all the fruit you want off of their big verity of fruit trees and bushes. Some fruits theyve got are peaches, grapes, plums, limes, lemons, pears, pomegranate, and quite a few more that I cant quite remember off the top of my head. And the John Muir house has lots of cool things to explore and has lots of cool history in it. Fun place to go!

Instructive, a little quaint, an interesting glimpse into California history. Worth a visit

Very cute national site! The park rangers were very nice and friendly as well.The house was interesting to walk around and learn about John Miurs family and life.They also have a junior ranger program that is fun for kids (no matter what age). :)

Nice little park to stop at see a statue of Mr. Muir.

This venue was free and very interesting. The staff there was very knowledgeable and friendly. Nice area to walk around.

Great place to visit with family learning about John Muirs life and his instrumental role in protecting natural resources and establishing the Federal Parks system.

Love to take a nice walk there again on a nice sunny spring and summer day to get it in on going to good National Parks of nice walk tours as its for everyone to take a walk and have fun with nature.

If you love history as I do you will enjoy this place. Walk the grounds, talk to one of the rangers.They really do a good job here.

Excellent historic site. Learnt a lot about John Muir. The staff in the place is very kind and welcoming. It also has a phone guide available. No entrance fee. No parking fee.

Since I love NP, I am fully admire what John Muir did for generations to come. And he actually have loved about 25 years of his last life in local Martinez!

I recently brought a group of naturalists to the John Muir Historic Site for a tour, a gravesite visit and a hike to Mt. Wanda. The NPS rangers treated us like royalty, answered all of our questions, and made our visit both memorable and fun. Cant thank the staff enough for their attention to detail, their hospitality and their knowledge. Many thanks for sharing this remarkable mans legacy. – Tom Graham

Revisited this historical site with my bf. Learn about John Muir life & his family!John Muir was a writer, a lecturer, a geologist, a botanist, a glaciologist, an explorer, a school teacher, an inventor, a fruit rancher, a husband, and a father.Muir was perhaps this countrys most famous and influential naturalist. If it werent for John Muir and his writings, we probably would not have Yosemite National Park as we know it today. He was also involved in the creation of the Grand Canyon, Kings Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Mt. Rainier National Parks. Additionally, his writings about Alaska led to further preservation of the landscape over time. Because of his influential writings and role in the creation of multiple parks, he is often called "The Father of Our National Park System."

Beautiful home where John Muir lived with his wife and daughters. Surrounded by hiking trails of different levels. Kids did the junior ranger program in the visitor center. The house is very well preserved and documented.

Had there been tea and no ropes on the seats, it would have felt like someone was living there and we were just dropping in for a visit. Lovely home, complete with plants on the porch. The delightful chaos of Johns study alone was well worth the visit.

Beautiful pice of history and so much to see.It is in very well preserved shaped and nice to see and learn history!Thank you for preserving.Good for whole family.Very educational

Nice house and free entrance, give you whole story about John Muir.

Nice historic home to visit! It was free entry, they do have a donation box once you enter the home if you like. Lots of things in the home on display are original from the time period or replica or what was originally in the home. Able to walk through almost the entire home, with each room having different info to read through and they even have a cell phone tour as youre walking through, but we didnt do that and went at our own pace. The third story is the attic space which was neat because there is another set of stairs leading up to the bell tower and observation area and at the bottom of those stairs you can ring the bell. Once you climb up those stairs it is a nice 360° view, not a lot of space, room for about 4-5 people, but very pretty view and windows all around! If in the area I do recommend taking a little time to walk through the home! I added some pictures, but didnt want to give the whole tour myself, lol!

Very interesting and historic. Go hike Mt Wanda afterward.

A great smaller National Historic Site with John Muirs historic home and property. The home is in great condition and so are the orchards and land around the property. Well worth a visit if in the area, and completely free.

Just did a quick trip to this Bay Area gem. Even though the actual home is closed right now during the pandemic, the property is open and beautiful. There is a cell phone guided tour that was easy. The rangers are friendly & knowledgeable. Ripe fruit from the orchards is available to visitors! The kids can participate in the Jr. Ranger program too. We are looking forward to returning when the home is open and participating in other programs.

Beautiful grounds. Love the detail inside the house and history in the Adobe. Very helpful .

We love going to National Historic Sites and John Muirs home was our 2nd time to visit. We brought my Father and grandson this time. The house is very well preserved. We especially liked his Scribble Room.

Amazing experience early Monday morning, I got a 1 on 1 photo shoot in the house. Amazing preservation and thoughtful presentation. A hidden National Park gem in a sea of freeways and oil refineries.

We really loved this self-guided tour through the home of John Muir. Highly recommend. Such a gem of a find -- we got more than we were expecting!Restrooms in the visitor center, ADA parking, cute gift shop, friendly staff!

I remember visiting this as a field trip for school, and was extremely excited to take my husband. I will warn its not the most exciting thing for younger kids. As an adult I appreciated this visit a lot more.

Great place, lots of history, nice decent led tour, nice place to come out and picnic. I hosted a small thing with my son and two friends. We all enjoyed learning about John Muir and the people who worked there were willing to answer and questions. My son also was able to get a junior ranger badge as they had an activity book to take with you as you explored the grounds.

I dont give much 5 stars.The house, the remains of the farm, the adobe and the open space are all first class in a single way. A true piece of nature, nurture and history. If you are in the mood downtown Martinez is charming and full of fun places to eat along with other shops. If you want to arrive via a country road, come through Tilden Park down to Alhambra.

Great historical site which showcases the life and home of the father of the National Parks system. The entrance has extremely friendly, helpful guides, a collection of Muir memorabilia (including all his books), two wheelchair-accessible individual restrooms, and a small theatre which seats around 20-25 guests comfortably for a 20-minute video about his life and the site. The houses two floors, attic, and bell tower (which you can ring yourself!can all be toured at your own pace, with a collection of period furniture and placards documenting each room. A guide is on-site for any questions as well. If needed, a large golf cart can accommodate anyone who may have trouble waking up the hill to the house. Highly recommended to visit, and best of all, its free (though donations are accepted if you please)!

Beautiful spot to wonder around and learn some local history about the Muir family. The staff was lovely and answered all questions we had. I cant wait to return!

We visited the John Muir National Historic sure in a rainy Sunday afternoon. We enjoyed a ranger walk/talk about John Muir’s life and a very good ~20 minute video as well. I look forward to visiting again on a day we can explore the trails/grounds. I would recommend this to any park buff

The park rangers are knowledgeable and love what they do, and the site is a lovely, well-maintained historic location. Definitely worth visiting if you are in the Martinez area. One can also find out more about the Port Chicago monument as well, which sparked a major turning point in not only the militarys history, but the nations.

Awesome place and in our own back yard! We had a really good time exploring and learning about the history of the era and area.

Great little historical site (dont pay attention to the grim facial expressions in the pictures)! I spent roughly 1.5 hours here, which included watching the 20 minute video, looking around both houses on the property, and having a packed lunch in the orchard. Its free, so if youre in the area its definitely worth a visit. The volunteers and rangers were super friendly and knowledgeable. I didnt have time to do the hike up the hill on the trails on the other side of the freeway.

Incredible historical site in the heart of urban East Bay. The well-maintained Italianate Muir home is an impressive site of historic interest, but just as good is the surrounding landscape, including orchards, walking paths, and the Martinez Adobe, which commemorates the Anza expedition. Well worth a detour off the freeway.

Great place to be here on Earth day! The parking is limited. So please ensure you park at the Alhambra high school parking lot and use the shuttle. The NPS staff is really nice! Dont miss the short movie in the visitors center. Strangely Google maps took us to back side of the parking lot but ensure you go to the front side next to football field -- thats where the shuttle stop is.

This historic site is beautiful and a must-see/do for anyone who loves national parks and wants to know more about the history and story of John Muir.The grounds are not large at all, but it is very beautiful. It is completely free to tour the grounds, you can take a self-guided tour with an audio narrative using your cell phone. There are numbers along the tour, where you call the number the rangers give you, you also dont have to use up your minutes on your phone by staying online till you reach the next station, you can call back and pick up where you left off when you reach the next station. Its really cool.I love that this historic site is so close to where I live, the parking area is small but there is parking across the street if the onsite one is all filled up. The tour doesnt take the long, but like I said the ground are beautiful, its hard not to just take a long stroll through the grounds. Its peaceful.I saw the video at the end, and I must say its really empowering. I found his life to be quite fascinating, especially after watching the video! I highly recommend visiting this landmark!