SOLVED. SCIFI (maybe short story?) where colonists to mars slowly become martians after civil war on earth leaves them stranded. [s]

[Alyssa]

I believe this was written sometime from 1950-1990 and I remember it being a short story/novella rather than full length. The story centered around a family landing in a rocket and quickly settling into colony-life on Mars, then a nuclear accident back home renders them stranded. Without communication from Earth, the colonists slowly transition into becoming Martians. I remember a scene where the son asks the dad to call him by his martian name instead one day and they just kind of go with it, until a certain point when they all leave their man-made homes behind and move into the hills and what looks like long-abandoned martian homes up there. Then eventually humans return to Mars again and discover the 'natives', who are really just the colonists (or descendants of them).

I thought it might be in Bradbury's Martian Chronicles but none of the synopses I read felt right. Dying to find this story again, any help is appreciated!

[Joseph]

Maybe Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed, by Ray Bradbury.

[Alyssa]

Yes! That is the exact one, thank you!

[Joseph]

👍