|
The Johnston House Foundation is proud to announce publication of the second and expanded edition of "The White House of Half Moon Bay, James and Petra de Jara Johnstons' Homestead 1853."
In three main sections the book describes the history of the house, a
detailed analysis of its architecture, and the colorful story of its
builder James Johnston and his family. At 69 pages this soft cover book
boasts more than 70 black-and-white plates and a beautiful
perfect-bound color cover. The book is being offered at $19.95, plus
shipping and handling. (more below)
The press release...
He was once the richest man in San Mateo County. He was part owner of
the notorious San Francisco El Dorado Saloon where politicians and
power brokers gathered. He bought 1,162 acres of untouched land on the
coast south of San Francisco and introduced the first eastern dairy
cattle into California. But what is left of his legacy is the
incredible house he built for his bride on a hill overlooking the
Pacific Ocean. His name - James Johnston.
Not enough Californians have heard of this forgotten pioneer. Johnston
arrived in 1849. The "Annals of San Francisco" printed in 1856
contained pictures of the founding fathers we know so well. Johnston
and his brothers worked the gold fields; he developed real estate and
helped Hispanic families in disputes over land rights with the United
States. He fell in love and married a petite pretty Californiano -
residents when California was part of Mexico. More than 150 years ago,
he built for her and their growing family what has come to be known as
"The White House of Half Moon Bay."
Even dating the house posed questions. Although the deed was not signed
until May 1853, Johnston sent brothers John and Thomas back to the
family home in Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1852 to bring a herd of 800 eastern
cattle to his ranch. With brother William, they set out in the spring
of 1853 on an exhausting cattle drive across the country. James himself
said years later he thought he and his wife moved into the finished
house in 1855 or '56.
Standing, still in plumb, after years of neglect, the haunted relic was
a mystery when Malcolm Watkins, curator of the Department of Cultural
History of the Smithsonian Institution, drove past with his new bride
in 1962. What was a New
England house from the 1600s doing here? He stopped and decided to find
out.
Joan Watkins photographed the house in detail. They measured, he
researched and the result was a monograph on the house. There were
rumors of his work and, eventually, a group of early preservationists
gathered at the San Mateo County History Museum, formed an Ad Hoc
committee to save the house and when the monograph was printed, the
group celebrated. That was thirty-five years ago. Watkins' treatise was
the single most driving force that preserved the abandoned archaic
relic.
Three decades later, the efforts of that dedicated group of volunteers,
The Johnston House Foundation, Inc., have made the house and its story
come alive once more. The updated, revised and expanded second edition
of Watkins' original book is off the press and will be introduced on
Saturday, January 26, at an invitational event at the house from 1 to 4
p.m.
The new edition includes background information from the Watkinses'
Interpretive Plan for the House and tells what has happened in the
intervening years. Terry Pimsleur, one of the original founders of the
group in the 1960s, edited and designed the new edition, which brings
the reader up to date.
The White House of Half Moon Bay
Book (69 pages, 8.5x11 softbound) $19.95
Tax $1.65
Shipping & Handling $3.50
Total $25.10
Please email your order to bookorders@johnstonhouse.org.
|
