This website (
visit link) informs us:
"The Stevenson House is a museum which is located in Monterey State Park, at 530 Houston Street. The museum is open every day but Wednesday, from 10 -11 am and from 1-4 pm. One must make reservations in advance for the tour.
DESCRIPTION:
In the 1800s, the dwelling was a boarding house, and had a famous author, Robert Louis Stevenson, staying there. Although the house was named for Stevenson, it was owned and run by Manuela Giradin, who was also a devoted mother and grandmother.
HISTORY:
During the summer of 1879, Mrs. Manuela Giradin's husband caught the dreaded typhoid fever and died. Unfortunately, Manuela's two much-loved grandchildren came down with the typhoid fever as well, in early December of 1879. Manuela devotedly nursed her two grandchildren both day and night, probably exhausting herself. Alas, Manuela also caught the fever and died on December 21st, without knowing that her grandchildren pulled through due to her efforts.
MANIFESTATIONS:
Most people, including the curator, Barbara, think that the ghost of Manuela Giradin is the cause of these manifestations, as she relives the last sorrowful weeks of her life. Most incidents happen in the house's nursery, almost always during the first 3 weeks of December.
The nursery rocking chair will begin rocking all by itself, propelled by an unseen presence.
Visitors to the house will smell the sickroom disinfectant, carbolic acid, which was used in the 1800s.
A woman in a black dress has been seen in the nursery by both visitors and the curator, Barbara. Visitors figured that the woman was the housekeeper because she was in costume like the curator, Barbara. However, the woman vanishes before their eyes.
Barbara, while preparing to close the museum for the afternoon, spied this woman in a long, black gown, with a high lace collar, looking intently down at the children's bed in the nursery. Barbara told this woman that it was time to close the museum, and the woman, looking straight at her, nodded that she understood. When Barbara looked again, the woman had vanished."
A sign, located in front of the Stevenson House reads:
"THE STEVENSON HOUSE
The oldest parts of this adobe house date from 1840. It was built by Rafael
Gonzalez, an administrator of the Custom House. Swiss immigrant Juan Girardin
and his wife Manuela Perez de Girardin expanded the building and rented rooms
to sailors, tradesmen and artists.
Robert Louis Stevenson visited Monterey for three and a half months in the fall of 1879.
He came to win the hand of Mrs. Fanny Osbourne.
During part of his stay, it is believed he occupied a second-floor room of
this house, which was then called the French Hotel. Whle in Monterey he wrote an essay,
The Old Pacific Capital, and gathered ideas for later works including Treasure Island.
The house was donated to the State in 1941 by Mrs. Celia Tobin Clark and Mrs. Edith Van Antwerp as a memorial to Robert Louis Stevenson.
Today the building holds one of the world's most important collections of Stevenson's personal belongings."
The sign was posted by the Monterey State Historic Park.
This Park website (
visit link) informs us:
"Open May thru September Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Holidays that fall on Monday - 10:a.m. to 4:00 p.m. - Closed for Fall/Winter except by private tour. Private Tours are limited to 25 persons. :45 minute presentation fee - $75. Call 831-649-7172.
This two-story adobe has sheltered families, government officials, artists, writers and fishermen, beginning in the Mexican era. During its time as a rooming house, known as the French Hotel, a young writer, Robert Louis Stevenson, stayed a few months in the autumn of 1879. Poor, in frail health and unknown, Stevenson was cared for by friends while he courted his future wife, Fanny Osbourne. It was in Monterey that Stevenson penned the "Old Pacific Capital." Today, the Stevenson House has been restored with several rooms devoted to "Stevensonia.""