A walk around a 100-year-old barn, investigating it from its towering rafters to its musty corners, can tell a lot about the history of the people who lived at the ranch.
Today's ranch owners could be relatives of the people who built the barn, or could have been handed down the stories of what went on in days gone by.
Ticket holders for the Douglas County Historical Society's Historic Barn Tour and barbecue, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, can peer into this past by meeting the owners, family members or other knowledgeable residents who will conduct tours of some of the Valley's historic barns.
Following the barn tours, tickets include a barbecue lunch provided by the Douglas County Farm Bureau and live musical entertainment at Mormon Station State Historic Park in Genoa. Tickets also include admission to the Genoa Court House Museum and the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville. The cost is $40, with all proceeds benefiting the historical society.
Tickets are still available at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 1477 Highway 395, in Gardnerville, and also at the Tahoe Ridge Winery at 2285 Main St. in Genoa. For more information call 782-2555.
Carson Valley barns have been preserved for a number of reasons. Many are so well built that they remain useful even today after 100 years. Some are connected to the family ranch and are not in use for the purpose that they were originally intended. A ranch was much more diversified even a generation ago. Almost every ranch had a dairy herd, along with cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, chickens and turkeys. Agricultural crops were also more diversified. Wheat, oats, barley and hay - these barns will reflect the historic use as well as the many changes in agriculture.
Participants have a choice of two tours, the Stetson or the Maverick tour.
Maverick tour
-- Anderson barn: The barn was built around 1900, by Wilhelm Henke. The barn is thought to be one of the first barns in Valley to have a concrete foundation. The old horse mangers are still place with planks rounded from years of use. The dairy side of the barn still has the old wooden stanchions used to hold the cows in place while they were milked. The ranch was purchased by the Anderson family from Peter Heitman in 1914.
-- Jacobs barn: The ranch and barn originally belonged to the Lampe family from 1887 until 2002. The ranch was a large and prosperous ranch located at the south end of the town of Gardnerville. Today shopping centers, parks and several churches and subdivisions occupy most of the original ranch. The Jacobs family purchased what was left of the ranch in 2002. The barn was built by J.C. Jensen, a Dane, in 1901. A unique working granary with an elevator that lifts the grain for storage can be seen in this barn.
-- Henningsen barn: This large barn has been in the Henningsen family for several generations. Carsten Henningsen, an immigrant from Denmark, acquired the ranch in 1878. The barn was built in 1890. The ranch passed from Henningsen to his son Clarence and from Clarence to his son John. John operated the ranch as a dairy up until 1992. Currently the ranch is operated as a cattle and hay operation by John and Virginia Henningsen, their daughter Caroline and son-in-law Don Frensdorff.
-- Jubilee barn: This historic ranch is located on the Carson River Route of the Emigrant Trail. The emigrant train and travelers provided a brisk business for the ranches located along the trail. The barn was built by Peter Van Sickle around 1900, and is the same style as his brother Henry Van Sickle's barn. The ranch was owned by Peter and son Oscar Van Sickle from 1857-1927. Thomas Summers from 1927-1951, and since 1951 by Milton Edward Bacon.
-- Trimmer barn: This historic barn was built in 1874, on land claim No. 1, recorded Dec. 1, 1852, by John Reese, the head of the trading party that established Reese's Station. The trading post became known as Mormon Station and was renamed Genoa in 1855, by Probate Judge Orson Hyde. Warren Wasson owned the property from 1864-1885; Lawrence Frey, 1885-1909; Robert Trimmer 1909-1940; Arnold Trimmer, his daughter Shirley (Trimmer) Giovacchini 1941-2003. The ranch is now owned by J.B. and Lisa Lekumberry, Terri and Corey Billman, Sheri and Dan Walters, all daughters and son-in-laws of Shirley (Trimmer) Giovacchini. This barn is also on the Stetson tour.
Stetson tour
-- Holden barn: This barn was constructed by Louis Heitman and a man named Christensen in the early 1890s. The logs used in the construction of this barn came from the Heitman timber property located above the ranch on Jobs Peak. The logs were sawed and hewed, showing the broad ax scars, mortised and drilled by hand, and put together with wooden pegs and assembled in sections. It was used by four generations of the Heitman family. The courting buggy in the main gallery of the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center was housed in this barn for many years.
-- Scossa barn: This barn is probably the most photographed and painted barn in Carson Valley because of its artistically crafted barn door. A photo of the door can be found on the rear cover of the "Barns of Carson Valley a Pictorial History" printed by the Douglas County Historical Society in 2003. Alexander Scossa immigrated to Nevada form Switzerland in 1869, along with his two brothers; they purchased the ranch in 1885. The barn was built in 1908 by the Ambrosetti brothers also of Swiss descent. The ranch ownership has continued in the Scossa family since 1885.
-- Sozzi barn: This historic property located on the Emigrant Trail was owned at one time by William F. Dressler. A Mr. Barber ran a horse shoeing business at this ranch. Barber was probably David Barber, a white man and the brother-in-law of Ben Palmer. Palmer was a freed black man that settled on the emigrant trail after the Civil War. He was well liked and a successful rancher. Other owners included John and Lena (Cagaleri) Biaggi, Frank Judd and Roy Crowell. It then became the Rolfs Eric Valley Ranch. Purchased by the Rooker family and renamed the Cuttin Loose Ranch, son Ron trained and sold cutting horses. The Sozzi's recently purchased the property from the Rookers.The original construction date is unknown, but estimated to have been built between 1860 and 1880. Due to wind damage the barn was taken down and rebuilt by Mr. Henke in 1928. Mr Henke spent the winter boarding with the Biaggi family and cutting the timber and wood for the barn.
-- Van Sickle barn: Henry Van Sickle arrived in Carson Valley in 1852 and he took up a land claim in 1855 along the Carson River Route of the Emigrant Trail. He ran a way station for travelers and freight haulers along the trail that became known as Van Sickle Station. Henry was an inn keeper, blacksmith and trader. When the Daggett Pass Toll Road was completed in 1860, usiness increased even more. The barn was probably built by Henry Van Sickle sometime between 1857 and 1860. The Van Sickles were Dutch and both brothers built "Pennsylvania bank barns," probably a style familiar to them. The ranch is owned by the Teig family, the barn and several acres surrounding it are leased to the Tahoe Ridge Winery.
-- Trimmer barn: Is also featured on the Stetson tour.
