Our Mission

The John Muir Memorial Association was organized in 1956 to preserve the John Muir home and grave site in Martinez, California, and assure its transfer to the National Park Service.

Through the efforts of the John Muir Memorial Association, Congressman John F. Baldwin of Martinez, Faire and Henry Sax, the Contra Costa Historical Society, and many interested citizens, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation on September 3, 1964, making Muir's former home in Martinez a National Historic Site. In 1993, the National Park Service bought an additional 326 acres of open space, known as Mt. Wanda, that was part of Muir's original 2,600 acres.

Today, the John Muir Association, renamed in 2004, continues to work with the National Park Service to preserve the 10,000-square-foot house and surrounding orchards, native plants, and grounds and to interpret the life of John Muir and the history of the home and ranch.

Learn more about how the Muir home was saved for posterity in "Bought and Saved For Posterity: Faire and Henry Sax and the John Muir Home," an article written for the Martinez Historical Society Newsletter by Harriett Burt.