California Historical Landmarks in Inyo County
California Historical Landmark 229
Austin Home
253 Market Street
Independence
 "California Historical Landmark #229: Mary Austin Home")
 "California Historical Landmark #229: Mary Austin Home")
(Click Photo to Zoom)
1868 - 1934
"But if ever you come beyond the borders as far as the town that lies in a hill dimple at the foot of Kearsarge, never leave it until you have knocked at the door of the brown house under the willow-tree at the end of the village street, and there you shall have such news of the land, of its trails and what is astir in them, as one lover of it can give to another . . ." The Land of Little Rain
Historical Landmark No. 229
California State Park Commission
After the people of Owens Valley lost the battle to prevent Los Angeles from diverting the Owens River to support the orange groves and suburbs of the Southland, Stafford moved to Death Valley and Mary moved to Carmel where her friends included Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, and George Sterling.
She died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1934.
Her best known work is The Land of Little Rain, a collection of essays about the Southwest. A 1950 edition was illustrated with photographs by Ansel Adams.