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While most travelers head north of San Francisco to Glen Ellen to enjoy Sonoma wineries, visit the Jack London State Historic Park, or to eat at the Glen Ellen Star, making time to visit M.F.K. Fisher’s Last House is so worth the memorable experience.
WHO WAS M.F.K. FISHER?
A tour-de-force in the world of food writing, Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was so much more than just a culinary storyteller. She wrote 34 books (including essay collections), befriended giants like Maya Angelou, Julia Child, and James Beard, lived in Europe, and helped found the Napa Valley Wine Library.
From her first article published in 1935 in Westways (the iconic Southern California AAA auto-club magazine) to 1942’s How to Cook a Wolf which inspired homemakers who were feeling rejected by wartime rations and shortages to Sister Age, a collection of short stories published in 1984 in which she welcomes and guides her reader through the coming of old age. Fisher had the ability to connect with an audience both in and out of the kitchen.
For the last twenty years of her life–after living in California, France, Switzerland, and California again–Fisher settled in the small hamlet of Glen Ellen in Northern California’s Sonoma County. Fisher’s friend, David Bouverie, offered to build her a house on his sizable ranch (now the Bouverie Preserve–part of Audubon Canyon Ranch).
Bouverie was an architect who had owned the land since 1938. Fisher designed the three room house herself and lived out the last two decades of her life there in which she hosted some of the most well known chefs and authors in the world. She called this “Last House” and let the high-arched redwood ceilings and beautiful views speak for themselves.
The small house is made up of a great room/kitchen, a bedroom, and an excellent bathroom which was everyone’s favorite–including Fisher’s. When Fisher died in 1992, her property was passed over to the ranch’s overseer for years before it was restored and opened to the public.
Fisher wrote 13 of her books while living in Last House. After her death, most of her belongings were given away to friends. When the Bouverie Preserve opted to preserve her home and open it to touring, a call was put out to these friends who greatly returned all of the gifted items in stride. Therefore, Last House is outfitted with many of the original pieces of furniture and artwork that lived in the home when Fisher did as well.
HOW TO TOUR M.F.K. FISHER’S LAST HOUSE
The Bouverie Preserve offers one hour tours twice a month and you must reserve a ticket beforehand. The suggested donation is $25 for the general public and $20 for Audubon members (though they won’t turn anyone away). Initially, I felt one hour was a short amount of time to tour the home but the house is actually quite small so this was an ample allotment (and there aren’t any vast gardens to explore). The docents were also happy to stick around and answer questions afterward.
You’ll park in a small lot at the top of a hill (there’s one porta-potty and nothing else) and walk down the hill to the house. There was a docent who intercepted me there to show me the way and the walk down the hill is pretty short. Our small group of maybe eight people gathered in the driveway to have a brief introduction by a second docent before we made our way into the home.
We were lucky enough to have a docent who knew M.F.K. Fisher while she was still alive so her retelling of her personal experiences with the author added such an intimate element while we walked around the home. While inside, you’ll also see original artwork and many photographs as well as Fisher’s famous peacock chair and gifts given to her by the likes of Maya Angelou.
The Bouverie Preserve is located 50 miles north of San Francisco in Glen Ellen. Check the website for upcoming tours (the days of the month they are offered vary though they all seem to run from 11am-12pm) and additional special events.
For more reading on M.F.K. Fisher check out An Extravagant Hunger: The Passionate Years of M.F.K. Fisher, a biography by Anne Zimmerman. Or learn about Fisher’s time in Provence with M.F.K Fisher’s Provence.
Have you visited M.F.K. Fisher’s Last House? Let me know what you thought in the comments!
