Calistoga Guide: Disney memorabilia and Robert Louis Stevenson State Park
Elaborate dioramas at the Sharpsteen Museum re-create the 1800s resort town. The museum was donated by Ben Sharpsteen, who for more than thirty years worked as a Disney animator. His Disney memorabilia is on display, plus old photos, a Victorian dollhouse, a stage coach and his Oscar.
A few miles north of Calistoga off Highway 29, in Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, steep forest trails lead to the 4,343-foot summit of Mount St. Helena. In 1880, Stevenson and his wife, Fanny, honeymooned on the mountainside, living for two months in the abandoned bunkhouse of the old Silverado silver mine––an experience that must have been a far cry from that of today’s wine country honeymooners.
He described his Calistoga experience in The Silverado Squatters. And, when he wrote about Spyglass Hill in the beloved children’s classic, Treasure Island, Mount St. Helena was his inspiration. On the mountaintop, views of Lake County, the Napa Valley, and on clear days, the Sierra Nevada and Mount Shasta, nearly two hundred miles away, can be dazzling. Spring and early summer are the best times to explore the park, when red Indian paintbrush, California poppies and yellow flannel bush are in full bloom. Winter days may see a little snow and chill winds; in summer and fall, temperatures reach the high nineties.
SHARPSTEIN MUSEUM
1311 Washington St
P.O. Box 573
Calistoga, CA 94515
Phone: 707 942 5911
Website: http://www.sharpsteen-museum.org/
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON STATE PARK
The park is seven miles north of Calistoga on Highway 29.
Website: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=472
