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San Francisco 2018, Day 4

Danville

Day 4 was my 4th day of sightseeing in the East Bay area.  Each day I went further into the East Bay.  This time, I went deep into the East Bay.  For the 1st time, I went to a place in the East Bay that doesn’t have a waterfront.

Danville is a small city located due east of Oakland.  But it’s separated from Oakland by the Oakland Hills.  To get there, I took BART out to Walnut Creek.  Then I took a bus into the San Ramon Valley.  I went to Danville to see Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site.  The site is only reachable by National Park Service shuttle from the center of Danville.

Because I could only get as far as central Danville on my own, I got to spend part of the day visiting the city.  This was unlike when I didn’t get to see the historic part of Martinez (except through the bus window) on Day 3.  It made for a very pleasant day.

Museum of the San Ramon Valley

The Museum of the San Ramon is located in what originally was a train depot on a Southern Pacific Railroad line coming down from Martinez.  (If you’ve been following along my 2018 East Bay adventures, you’re probably getting a sense of how important the railroad was to the growth of the region.)

Danville Depot’s office.
Who doesn’t love a big toy train set?
There’s something about a train that’s magic! Especially when it comes in pastel colors.
The fearsome mountain lion of the San Ramon Valley.
A mastodon jaw discovered in the San Ramon Valley. To the right are samples of local sandstone embedded with ancient shells.
Artifacts and crafts from area Native Americans.
Hard at work in the caboose out back.

Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site

Welcome to Tao House at Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site. Tao House was built in the same architectural style as the Martinez Adobe at John Muir National Historic Site.

I was very surprised to learn that there was a National Park Service site in California for Eugene O’Neill because I had seen his gravesite in Boston.  It turns out that O’Neill died in Boston, but he lived all over.  The place he lived the longest was Tao House, in the hills west of Danville.  He and his wife Carlotta built the house in 1937 using the money from the Nobel Prize for Literature he had won the previous year.  They chose the property, a former almond orchard, for its seclusion  They lived there till they moved to Boston in 1944.

An ornamental elephant in front of Tao House.

The O’Neills named their new house Tao House because of their interest in Eastern philosophy and Asian art.

Japanese theatrical masks adorn the walls of Tao House.
The O’Neills’ player piano.
More Asian theatrical masks.
Beautiful carved wooden screen with porcelain insets.
A kimono that belonged to Carlotta.
Well of course there’s a framed pair of Eugene O’Neill’s monogrammed boxer shorts on display.
The Master’s Study, where Eugene O’Neill wrote his greatest works.

Although Eugene O’Neill won the Nobel Prize in 1936, he wrote his greatest works during his subsequent years at Tao House–The Iceman Cometh, Moon for the Misbegotten, and Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

A small theater set up in the “Old Barn” behind Tao House.
Gravesite of Silverdene Emblem, nicknamed Blemie, the O’Neills’ beloved Dalmatian.

Historic Walking Tour

Back down the hill from Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site, I spent the rest of the afternoon taking in Downtown Danville’s historic structures.

The Neoclassical Veterans Memorial Building was built in 1925 to commemorate World War I veterans of the San Ramon Valley.  The Veterans Memorial Building houses a military museum.
Outside the Veterans Memorial Building, the Battlefield Cross, to honor those lost on the battlefield.
The Old Oak Tree is the symbol of Danville. It’s a valley oak that’s estimated to be over 350 years old.
The American eagle symbol from the original 1946 Danville post office has been incorporated into a newer buidling.
The Gothic Revival Cohen/Vecki House was built in 1866. Its original wood siding has been replaced by stucco.
Danville’s Mission Revival Town Meeting Hall was built in 1933 as the First Presbyterian Church of Danville to replace the 1875 Spanish Colonial Revival Central Contra Costa Presbyterian Church that burned down in 1932.
Grange Hall was built in a for an association of farmers in 1873. In 1913, the building was raised and became the second story when a new story was built underneath it. It’s now the home of the Village Theatre and Art Gallery.
Eugene O’Neill Commemorative Park displays interpretative panels on the playwright’s life and works.
Brian Dennehy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Vanessa Redgrave, and Robert Sean Leonard are pictured in the 2001 Broadway revival of Long Day’s Journey into Night.
The Shuey/Podva House was built in 1892 in the Victorian Stick-Eastlake style.
The former Danville Hotel was built in the Victorian Stick style in 1892 after the railroad came to town.
The George Foster House is a Craftsman California bungalow built circa 1926.
Right next door to the George Foster House is the Joe Foster House, a Craftsman California bungalow built in 1926. It’s now an Italian restaurant.

And that was my lovely, relaxing day in Danville and the last of my 4 consecutive sightseeing days exploring the East Bay.

[Factual information is primarily gathered from Wikipedia, so you know it must be true.]

Related posts:

San Francisco 2018 Food Diary, Day 4 San Francisco 2016, Day 2, Part 2 San Francisco 2016, Day 4, Part 2 San Francisco 2016, Weekday Edition

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