Martha Hitchcock (1818–1899)

Martha Hitchcock and her daughter Lillie Hitchcock Coit presided over a bohemian salon at the latter's Larkmead ranch in Napa Valley, California. There distinguished guests participated in singing, dancing, and reading poetry under the stars. A Salon at Larkmead is based on Martha's diaries, which chronicles this moment of the region's transition from wilderness to cultivated agriculture.