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Playwright Eugene O’Neill is most often associated with New York City and Broadway, where his works were performed, or New England, where he set many of his dramas. But he also has a strong connection to the Bay Area, through his former home in the hills of Danville.
National Park Service rangers give free guided tours of the two-story home where O’Neill and his third wife, Carlotta, lived from 1937 to 1944. The Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site offers a fascinating glimpse into their lives and into a place where many of his most famous plays were written.
The O’Neills built their Danville home after Eugene won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936 and was awarded $40,000. “They wanted to be isolated,” said ranger Geraldine Finton. The custom-built house was on 158 acres, far away from friends and distractions, but with some fantastic views of Mount Diablo.
The country estate was named Tao House, in recognition of the years the couple spent traveling in Asia. Many of its furnishings were purchased in San Francisco’s Chinatown and at Gump’s department store. The National Park Service has recreated how the house looked when the couple lived there. There are colored mirrors in many of the rooms in the 5,000-square-foot building.
According to Finton, Carlotta worked to keep her husband from drinking alcohol, so he could write plays without interruption. The couple doted on their dalmatian Blemie, and Carlotta oversaw a staff of a half-dozen employees. Famous plays that the playwright wrote here included “The Iceman Cometh”, “A Moon for the Misbegotten” and “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”
Eugene O’Neill died in Boston in 1953. Perhaps because he wrote about dark topics like alcohol abuse, death and family dysfunction, he isn’t as well known today.
“Nobody thinks about him,” said supervisory park ranger Hilary Grabowska. “He’s not a part of the curriculum.”
One group that doesn’t want O’Neill to be forgotten is the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, a nonprofit located at Tao House. It sponsors an annual festival of O’Neill’s plays over three weekends in September. Plays are performed in a barn on the property.
After touring the house, visitors can see the barn and wander around the grounds.
Danville has grown considerably since the O’Neills lived there. Today there are neighbors nearby, so visitors are not allowed to drive to the property. Instead, visitors arrive from downtown Danville via a National Park Service van.
Visitors can park for free at 205 Railroad Ave., near an old railroad depot which houses the Museum of the San Ramon Valley. It’s easy to combine a visit to Tao House with a meal or a walk around downtown Danville.
Tao House also is adjacent to the Las Trampas Wilderness Regional Preserve, and hikers from the 5,600-acre park frequently show up at the property.
“We get a lot of Chinese visitors,” Grabowska said, “who know him as Charlie Chaplin’s father-in-law.” O’Neill’s daughter, Oona, was married to Chaplin from 1943 to 1977. Oona O’Neill Chaplin is mentioned on the tour, along with lots of other famous names, including Katharine Hepburn, Andy Warhol and Ingrid Bergman.
Visitors to Tao House must take a shuttle from the Museum of the San Ramon Valley, 205 Railroad Ave., Danville. Free tours are at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays. For reservations, visit nps.gov or call 925-228-8860, ext. 6422. (On Saturdays, reservations are not needed; vans take the first 12 people who show up for each tour at the museum in Danville.)
I enjoyed the article on Tao House, O’Neill’s residence up in the hills. The details of how to get up there are clear in the article. This is an amazing place to visit. I recommend getting on the mailing list so you can be informed about the plays that are produced by the O’Neill Foundation. One small correction: the tours to the public are generally given by Foundation volunteers, not park rangers. Not a big deal, but some folks might appreciate the accuracy of the information.