Adamson House is designated a National Historic Site and a
California Historic Landmark Visible from most places on the
state beach, but with entry only off the Pacific Coast Highway
(Highway One), a few hundred feet down coast in Malibu Lagoon
State Beach is the Adamson House. In 1892, Henry Keller sold the
13,000-acre Rancho Malibu to Frederick H. Rindge, for a price
variously reported as $10-$22 per acre. Keller, it is said, had
acquired it for 10 cents an acre in 1872. Rindge, from
Cambridge, Massachusetts, had recently inherited an estate of
more than $2 million and moved to California. After arrving in
California, Rindge wrote a book called "Happy Days in Southern
California." Then he looked for "a farm near the ocean, and
under the lee of the mountain, with a trout brook, wild trees, a
lake, good soil, and excellent climate." Frederick Rindge died
in 1905, and his wife, Rhoda May Knight Rindge, carried out his
plans for the ranch, despite having to pay a big inheritance tax
and high interest bills. In