| ABOUT
GLEN ELLEN AND THE SONOMA WINE COUNTRY
Glen
Ellen is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County,
California, USA. The population was 992 at the 2000 census. Glen Ellen
is home to the Wolf House of Jack London, the “Last House”
of M. F. K. Fisher in the Bouverie Audobon Preserve, the home of Hunter
S. Thompson at a point in his life, and the location of Sonoma Valley
Regional Park and a raft of excellent fine dining venues, small inns and
art galleries.
Points
of interest: Writer Jack London lived in Glen Ellen from 1909 to his death
in 1916, where he devoted much of his time to development of his Beauty
Ranch and the building of his mansion, Wolf House. Many of his novels
and stories, notably The Iron Heel and The Valley of the Moon mention
Glen Ellen and Sonoma County. ("The Valley of the Moon" is a
translation of Sonoma Valley's name given by the Pomo and Coast Miwok
peoples.) The site of his ranch is now Jack London State Historic Park,
which contains the ruins of Wolf House, several ranch buildings, the graves
of both Jack and Charmian London, and a museum housed in Charmian London's
"House of Happy Walls Glen Ellen is also home to the Jack London
Educational Research Foundation and formerly the Jack London Bookstore
which closed after the death of the owners and caretakers, Russ and Winnie
Kingman. The Sonoma Developmental Center is located just outside Glen
Ellen near the Jack London ranch. Its predecessor, the California Home
for the Care and Training of Feeble Minded Children, was the setting for
Jack London's story "Told in the Drooling Ward."
Glen Ellen is located in the Sonoma Valley Wine Country and is part of
the Sonoma Mountain AVA. Like all the communities in Sonoma Valley, Glen
Ellen is home to many vineyards and wineries including B.R. Cohn Winery,
Benziger Family Winery, Mayo Family Winery, and Valley of the Moon Winery.
Glen Ellen is also home to many artists and entrepreneurs.
The nearby city of Sonoma (approximately eight miles south) is heralded
as the birthplace of California and contains four of the first ten California
Historical Landmarks. Sonoma County was once home to several Native American
tribes, who lived within the carrying capacity of the land; by 1850, European
settlement had set a new direction that would prove to radically alter
the course of land use and resource management of this region. As of 2007,
Sonoma County has rich agricultural land, albeit now largely divided between
two nearly monocultural uses: grapes and pasturage. The voters have twice
approved open space initiatives that have provided funding for public
acquisition of natural areas, preserving forested areas, coastal habitat,
and other open space. Sonoma County is the home of Sonoma State University
and Santa Rosa Junior College.
The county includes the City of Sonoma and the Sonoma Valley, in which
the City of Sonoma and the villages of Glen Ellen and Kenwood are located.
The Sonoma Valley itself makes up the southeastern portion of the county,
which includes many other valleys and geographic zones. Moreover, the
Sonoma Valley itself includes not only the City of Sonoma, but a portion
of the City of Santa Rosa and the unincorporated communities of Glen Ellen,
Kenwood, Agua Caliente, Boyes Hot Springs, and Fetters Hot Springs. Other
regions of the county beyond the Sonoma Valley include, among others,
the Petaluma Valley, the Santa Rosa Plain, the Russian River, the Alexander
Valley, and the Dry Creek Valley, all of which are easily accessible from
the centrally located Sonoma Valley.
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