The hook
A world-famous Shakespearean actress had one of America's top architects build her a country house in a hidden Orange County canyon, and it's still standing on the creek.
01Why it's worth it
Helena Modjeska was a celebrated stage actress and Polish patriot who emigrated to America in 1876; when she wanted a retreat from touring, she hired Stanford White, the leading architect of the age, to design it. He gave her a rambling white Victorian country house in a grove of live oaks on Santiago Creek, and she named it Arden, after the forest in As You Like It, and lived there from 1888 to 1906. It survives almost intact, a National Historic Landmark tucked up a quiet canyon most of the county has never heard of, with the gardens she planted and the creek running past. It's an unlikely, lovely piece of theatrical and architectural history in the back of the Santa Ana Mountains.
02How to experience it
It's in Modjeska Canyon, about seven hours from the Bay, up a winding canyon road. The house is shown by docent-led tour on Wednesday and Saturday mornings by reservation only, so book ahead; the grounds keep wider hours. It pairs with the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary's birds just up the canyon.