John Muir’s Birthplace Museum

Dunbar, East Lothian
★★★

The world has John Muir to thank for the modern National Parks movement. Born in 1838 in Dunbar, his early years growing up in southern Scotland must have sown the seeds for his love of nature – but he spent the vast majority of his life in the USA, where his visits to Yosemite Valley, California kindled his campaigns to protect wilderness areas in that country, which inspired similar action throughout the world. His birthplace museum in the house where he grew up is a smart affair, with interactive displays and photographs telling the conservationist’s life story while extolling the natural beauty of both countries. The John Muir Way starts here, extending 134 miles to Helensburgh on the west coast.