California Historical Landmarks in Alameda County

California Historical Landmark 107
Joaquin Miller Home
Joaquin Miller Park
Near the Northwest Corner of Joaquin Miller Road and Sanborn Drive
Oakland
Period 1886-1913

California Historical Landmark #107: Joaquin Miller Home
  California Historical Landmark #107: Joaquin Miller Home
8 September 2012
(Click Photos to Zoom)

Joaquin Miller, "Poet of the Sierras," resided on these acres, named by him "The Hights," from 1886 to 1913. In this building, known as The Abby, he wrote "Columbus" and other poems. The surrounding trees were planted by him and he personally built, on the eminence to the north, the funeral pyre and the monuments dedicated to Moses, General John C. Fremont, and Robert Browning. "The Hights" was purchased by the City of Oakland in 1919.

Tablet erected by the Historical Landmarks Committe, Native Sons of the Golden West, September 9, 1928.

The Abby is also National Register Listing #66000204.

Columbus

Behind him lay the gray Azores,
Behind the Gates of Hercules;
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shoreless seas.
The good mate said: "Now must we pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone.
Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?"
"Why, say, 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'"

"My men grow mutinous day by day;
My men grow ghastly wan and weak."
The stout mate thought of home; a spray
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
"What shall I say, brave Admiral, say,
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"
"Why, you shall say at break of day,
'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'"

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,
Until at last the blanched mate said:
"Why, now not even God would know
Should I and all my men fall dead.
These very winds forget their way,
For God from these dread seas is gone.
Now speak, brave Admiral, speak and say" -
He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!"

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:
"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
Brave Admiral, say but one good word:
What shall we do when hope is gone?"
The words leapt like a leaping sword:
"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"

Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,
And peered through darkness. Ah, that night
Of all dark nights! And then a speck -
A light! A light! A light! A light!
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world
Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!"

Joaquin Miller, 1892

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