Robert Louis Stevenson Museum

The Robert Louis Stevenson is an unassuming museum on the edge of St. Helena, next to the public library. Stevenson’s «wine is bottled poetry» quote is a common sight in the Napa Valley, yet this museum is small… and relatively uncrowded.
Quotes from Stevenson adorn the walls, along with a pirate mannequin and a treasure chest for the Treasure Island display, as well as the toy soldiers who inspired him in «Children’s Garden of Verses.» Stevenson’s adventures in California&Samoa are described&depicted with artifacts. Stevenson didn’t confine his quests to his swashbuckling novels. Much is devoted to his romance with Fanny Osbourne, his wife, and their eventual honeymoon in the Napa Valley.
For many people, their introductions to Stevenson are his poetry, or movies based on his novels (like Disney’s 1960 version of «Kidnapped» with its dueling bagpipes&Rob Roy’s son) This museum shows Stevenson’s human side. Fascinating and insightful.

My family and I went to visit this museum with our two kids on Talk Like a PIrate Day. The staff was great – warm and friendly, inviting and informative. We spent the better part of an hour learning about Stevenson’s fascinating life while our boys made pirate hats and swords out of newspaper with one of the staff who was dressed like a pirate. They had a ball and we were surprised to learn that the great writer Stevenson only lived until age 44, was often ill, yet despite all this, he was a prolific writer who put Napa Valley wines ‘on the map’ in the late 1800’s. The museum is free. We highly recommend this little museum for anyone interested in his works or life.

This one-​room museum is manned by one kind old woman filled with knowledge — you can tell by looking at her and speaking with her. She’ll either give you a guided tour, telling you everything she knows and has read about RLS or she’ll let you find your own way around the place. TReasure Island paperbacks and Jeckyl/​Hyde books scatter the place. Old typed notes curl up, hanging next to photos of this geeky Icabod-​like Scottish guy who presumably sought adventure. You’ll learn that he was disowned from his parents when he married a divorcee with two kids and had to elope to an abandoned cabin in napa. AFter he became ill (and took opium and became addicted though the museum doesn’t mention this) he writes TI and makes money for he and his wife to move to Hawaii and then to Samoa. Buy a book for $ 5 and support this little museum. They have a checklist of what they need by the door and mark things off when they get enough donations! PS Cool fact — my Best friend’s GMA started this place!