Guest column by Robin Chapman: Widow of world famous author once owned ranch in South Valley

Fernwood Cellars produces a vintage called “Vanumanutagi” in honor of the home built by Fanny Stevenson

Vanumanutagi

By Robin Chapman

Robin Chapman

In the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, just a few miles above Gilroy, sits a ranch with a quirky name that once belonged to the widow of one of the most beloved writers in the English language. Robert Louis Stevenson was the author of “Strange Tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Treasure Island,” among many other works. When he died in Samoa in 1894, his widow, Californian Fanny Stevenson, inherited his copyrights and became a wealthy woman.

She built a house on San Francisco’s Russian Hill and while that was under construction, visited the Redwood Retreat in the hills above Gilroy and fell in love with the green and golden landscape. In 1899, she purchased 120 acres nearby and called the property “Vanumanutagi,” Samoan for “vale of the singing birds.”

At first, she and her family brought tents and camped out. Later, she built a small home and in September 1902, held a housewarming. “Hundreds of Japanese lanterns shed their mellow light upon the scene, lighting up the surrounding forest,” wrote a reporter who was there that night.

Joining the party were best-selling author Frank Norris and his wife, Jeannette. They were part of Fanny’s literary circle and had purchased their own ranch not far from hers. Norris named his “Quien Sabe,” after a retreat in his book McTeague and planned to finish his series of novels there. But it was not to be. A month after Fanny’s party, Norris died of complications from appendicitis at the age of 32. Fanny built a memorial to him on the path between their properties. His original cabin is now a listed National Historic Landmark.

Fanny Stevenson

On the morning of April 18, 1906 — the day of the great San Francisco earthquake — Fanny and her traveling companions were on their way from Ensenada to San Francisco. According to Fanny’s sister, Nellie Sanchez, they did not feel the quake on their moving train, but learned the details when they were halted at Salinas due to damage at the Pajaro River Bridge. Fanny was able to get a wagon to Gilroy where she spent the next two weeks at a hotel and at “Vanumanutagi,” waiting to learn the fate of her home in San Francisco — which did survive the earthquake and fire.

Fanny Stevenson died in Montecito in 1914 and left her various properties mostly to family. But she left “Vanumanutagi” to a friend named Ethel Head, who had nursed her during an illness, saying she thought it important for an independent woman to have something of her own. Fanny’s son Lloyd Osbourne later married Ethel and, for a time, the two lived together at the ranch.

In 1969, Leo and Jeanne Ware of Palo Alto bought the property and over the years worked to be loving curators of its history. When they planted vineyards, Jeanne named the sections after the works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Leo Ware died this year at the age of 94, but Jeanne and their children carry on. They supply grapes to nearby vintner Fernwood Cellars that produces a special vintage called “Vanumanutagi.”

Robin Chapman is a journalist and historian and a member of the Robert Louis Stevenson Club of Monterey. She’s the author of three books about our region including her newest, “The Valley of Heart’s Delight: True Tales from Around the Bay.”