Memorial Grove: The Robert Louis Stevenson Tree

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The first musical this summer was Jekyll and Hyde and I did some guerrilla literary ed in the Park. I'm working on a poster for the Ranger Station that displays a map of the California Writers Memorial Grove, just downhill from the amphitheater, and photos of all the writers for whom these trees were planted. This seemed like a good opportunity to label one of the trees!

So if you are walking the stairs and you see these unsightly papers taped to a redwood, pay attention! (I recommend zooming in... I had to brave some protective ivy to put them there.) There's a story there!

Poster about Robert Louise Stevenson


The text page reads:

This Scottish writer was embraced by California because he came here for love, married Oakland mom Fanny Osbourne, and wrote some enduring pieces about early California life ("the Old Pacific Capital" about Monterey, and “Silverado Squatters” about pre-wine Napa).

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, an 1886 Gothic horror novella, was his breakout work. He’s best known for Treasure Island and A Child's Garden of Verses, though he became a well-known political writer, defending Polynesian culture against European colonizers.

Stevenson had many friends in common with Joaquin Miller, in California, New York, and London, where they both began their careers in the early 1970s. Both wrote against tyranny, empire and corruption, and are well regarded for their legacy of humanist writings.

See Jekyll and Hyde at Woodminster Theater, June 12-14 & 18-21. 


 
The Stevenson tree is in a cluster that incudes one for Jack London and one for George Sterling. Nearby, there's a curved bench with an engraved plaque. Before I made the off-road trek, I was wondering who this person was.

As I was clambering back to the stairs and thinking about Tecnu, a man began exclaiming over this plaque.

"Hey! I know this guy!" Nick was a Mathematics major at Cal, and had read the guy's work on prime numbers!

Derrick Norman Lehmer (1867-1938) was a professor at UC Berkeley who likely had a relationship with the property until the end of his life, when he helped shepherd it into it's current incarnation. (Someone should add this plaque to Lehmer's Wikipedia page!) His son, also named Derrick, also a mathemetician, worked with him on a mathematical device called a Lehmer's Sieve.
Oakland has always been a fascinating place full of fascinating people.

And it does great musical theater! Be sure to see a show this summer, an unparalleled Oakland experience!




NOTE: I'm looking for a partner and/or assistant in mapping the trees and markers of the Woodminster Cascade. Please contact me if you're interested!




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