John Steinbeck
Barbara and I had lunch at the John Steinbeck home, which is now a restaurant for all the visitors to eat and talk to waitresses who are knowable about him. Born and raised in Salinas, California; Steinbeck knew the rural town well. He was born at 132 Central Street on February 27, 1902 to John and Olive Steinbeck. Steinbeck’s father was a quiet, disappointed man who had failed at managing a flour mill and failed, again, at running his own feed store. Perhaps as a reaction to this, Steinbeck’s mother was filled with ambition for her son. She hoped he would be a doctor or lawyer. It was one of his greatest disappointments that neither of his parents lived to see him achieve international success as a writer.
Both of Steinbeck’s parents encouraged him to develop a love for literature. His connection to books grew when an aunt gave him a copy of a book, which inspired him for the rest of his life. In his introduction to The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights as Noblesse Oblige or literally Nobility Obligates. The concept that nobility extends beyond mere entitlements; requires the person who holds such status to fulfill social responsibilities, particularly in leadership roles. This seems to be what drove Steinbeck in his life and in his works.
Whether he was reporting from the front lines of the war on poverty or the conflict in Vietnam, John Steinbeck brought honesty and integrity to his craft. Steinbeck understood that readers sought out what was true in this world. From his first book to his last, Steinbeck capitalized on the stories he had heard from the people around him.
He listened to the hobos, the migrant workers, the drifters, and the dreamers. He listened to the men in the trenches of war or to the women on the street of Cannery Row. Steinbeck’s greatest talent was to turn the real world into a fascinating, visual image that gave his readers a compelling glimpse into the lives of others. This is all on Monterrey Bay and there were many other things to see that are tied to the ocean.
Margaret Mitchell
We kind of saw this as we drove by and did not spend a lot of time looking at the house.
Margaret Mitchell was born in 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia and lived just 49 years. She attended Washington Seminary in Atlanta and Smith College in Massachusetts. She worked for the Atlanta Journal from 1922 to 1926, but took a retirement after injuring her ankle. She worked on her only novel, Gone with the Wind, for ten years, publishing it in 1936. The motion picture rights were sold for $50,000, and the film won the “Best Picture” Academy award in 1940. The novel was an overnight sensation, selling a million copies and requiring 31 printings in its first year of release.
Mitchell said of her novel, “If it has a theme, it is that of survival. What makes some people able to come through catastrophes and others, apparently just as able, go under?” She says that some called it “gumption.” “So I wrote about people who had gumption and the people who didn’t.” In writing her story, Margaret drew on the history and experiences from her own family. Both of her parents were of Irish descent, and many of her ancestors had fought in the American Revolution, Irish uprisings, and the Civil War. Her grandparents had lived in Jonesboro, and Margaret herself rode about Atlanta on a pony while listening to stories told by Confederate veterans. Part of her childhood was spent in a stately home on Peachtree Street.
Mitchell had a “secret life” which is recognized today in the Margaret Mitchell Museum in Atlanta. She was a champion for African Americans in an age when segregation reigned in the south. As a 19 year old, she chose to work in the city’s black clinics and was accordingly expelled from the Junior League. In 1941, after being approached by Dr. Benjamin Mays, she gave a donation of $80.00 to Morehouse College, a historically black institution. When she was told of the impact of her gift, she decided to make the donation a yearly event, but asked that it be kept anonymous. Dr. Mays, president of the college, kept her secret for several years after her death. In all, she helped over 40 African Americans become medical students
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in this two-story Queen Anne-style house on January 15, 1929, the oldest son of a Baptist minister and an elementary-school music teacher. His childhood was a normal one. He preferred baseball to piano lessons, liked to play board games, and got a kick out of tearing the heads off his older sister’s dolls (nonviolence came later). To quote his sister, Christine King Farris, “My brother was no saint ordained at birth; instead he was an average and ordinary man, called by God to perform extraordinary deeds.”
King lived here through the age of 12, and then moved with his family to a house a few blocks away. A visit provides many insights into the formative influences on one of the greatest leaders of our time. The Rev. A. D. Williams, King’s maternal grandfather and pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, bought the house in 1909. Reverend Williams was active not only in the church, but also in the community and in early manifestations of the civil rights movement. He was a charter member of Atlanta’s NAACP and led a series of black registration and voting drives as far back as 1917. He was instrumental in getting black officers onto the Atlanta police force. Martin Luther King, Sr., moved in on Thanksgiving Day, 1926, when he married Williams’s daughter Alberta. When Reverend Williams died in 1931, King became head of the household and took over Williams’s pulpit at Ebenezer Church.
The King family retained ownership of the house at 501 Auburn Ave. even after they moved away. King’s younger brother, Alfred Daniel, lived here with his family from 1954 to 1963. In 1971, King’s mother deeded the home to the King Center. It has since been restored to its appearance during the years of King’s boyhood. The furnishings are all originals or period reproductions, and some personal items belonging to the family are on display. Christine was actively involved in the restoration, providing a wealth of detail about the former appearance of the house, as well as anecdotal material about life in the King family. We also visited Ebenezer Baptist Church where he been the Pastor.
Henry Pittock
It was approaching darkness when we visited and two weddings were being conducted inside which kept us from viewing the whole house but it has a wonderful view of Mt. Helena.
Although the Pittock Mansion has been overlooking Portland for more than 80 years, there is always something new to see when visiting the historic site.
Whether it’s the mountaintops peaking through the clouds or the continuing efforts by the staff to bring the mansion back to its former glory, the mansion is a must see for anyone interested in Portland history or grand views.
“Some days we can see six mountains from here,” says Lucy Smith McLean, mansion curator. “When they designed this place they really opened it up to the views.”
The 46-acre estate features several buildings and a yard that is wonderful for picnics, sitting at almost 1,000 feet in altitude directly above Portland. The 16,000-square-foot mansion is filled with the history of Portland and of the Pittock family – and there is a constant effort to clean up and update the mansion.
“Right now we are on the cutting edge of restoration when it comes to old wallpaper,” McLean says. “In the breakfast room we are working on trying to restore the wallpaper. Over the years it got really dark and we are digitally trying to figure out what color it was so we can recreate it.”
Projects like this keep the mansion ever changing and growing. McLean says that during her more than 25 years as curator, she has seen rooms open to the public and that’s what makes the mansion so exciting. In 2000, the kitchen area was opened to the public with a new antique stove and handcrafted flooring that mimic the original flooring.
William Randolph Hearst Castle
We just took one tour of the William Randolph Hearst Castle and saw all we wanted to see as it was so large and contained so many rooms and other facilities that you could spend a week there. There are so many parts to it that is almost unbelievable.
William Randolph Hearst was born April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951 and was an American newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisher. He was born to San Francisco millionaire mining engineer George Hearst and Phoebe Hearst.
Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887 after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father. Acquiring more newspapers, Hearst created a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He later expanded to magazine, creating the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world.
His life story was a source of inspiration for the lead character in Orson Welles’ classic film Citizen Kane. His mansion, Hearst Castle, near San Simeon, California, on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, was donated by the Hearst Corporation to the State of California in 1957, and is now a state Historical monument and a National Historic Landmark.
Robert Frost
Robert Frost, of Derry New Hampshire, distinguished American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes, was born in San Francisco in 1874. Upon his father’s death in 1885 he returned with his family to New England, where he graduated from Lawrence (Mass.) High School and attended Dartmouth College and Harvard University. In 1895 he married Elinor Miriam White. Frost had published only a few poems before 1913 when his first book, A Boy’s Will, was printed in England. Although fame came late, Frost eventually became America’s unofficial poet laureate, as acknowledged by his trips to Russia and Israel and the invitation to read at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. He died in 1963.
Robert Frost resided in New Hampshire for about a third of his life. He attended school in Salem, taught in Derry and Plymouth, farmed for several years in Derry, and later purchased a farm in Franconia. In 1938 Frost said of his association with the state: “Not a poem, I believe, in all my six books, from A Boy’s Will to A Further Range, but has something in it of New Hampshire. Nearly half my poems must actually have been written in New Hampshire. It has been New Hampshire, New Hampshire with me all the way.”
Robert Frost/ Quotes
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
These woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.