Genoa museum opens May 3

What an April this has been and we are only half way through it. Doesn't this weather make you want to get out there and take some pictures? We'd sure like you to submit some of those to our April photo contest. Send us a picture of whatever Douglas County in April looks like to you. Entry forms are available at the museum and on line.

Upcoming May events include Student-Senior Day at the Gardnerville Museum on May 3. Paul Spears will be demonstrating American Sign Language using puppets. Spears uses all kinds of puppets, but perhaps the most unusual are those which are designed to sign. Students accompanied by an adult and seniors are admitted free.

Also on May 3, the Genoa Court House Museum will open for the season. The museum will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will remain open through October. Many wonderful events are planned for the museum including the Pony Express re-ride and Snowshoe Thompson Day coming up on June 19. Our Main Street Bookstore manager Bernadine Whitmore has been stocking the Genoa museum gift shop with books on local history.

The exhibit committee has just about completed its work in getting ready for the opening. Newly redone is the original Genoa jail. The sheriff is seen sitting at his desk and, thoughtfully, the stove has been moved over next to him to keep him warm in winter.

Also on display are photos of some of the Douglas County sheriffs from 1862 to 1920, when the facility was moved to Minden. There is also a display case containing some of the escape keys inmates had fashioned out of silverware.

Upstairs they have installed the "Carson Valley, Where Nevada Began" exhibit that tells the history of Carson Valley from the arrival of Jedediah Smith in 1827 to the early days of Genoa. A portion of this exhibit won an award at the state fair last year.

At the May 8 lecture series, Bob Ellison will portray Warren Wasson, Genoa pioneer and first U.S. Marshall. Ellison is regarded as one of Douglas County 's premiere historians. Due to the number who have been attending these free lectures, we have moved them to the much larger main gallery upstairs. Thank you for your support of this ongoing series.

The Barn Tour is coming up May 24. The tour will allow you to see six barns on the historic Emigrant Trail, now known as Foothill Road. You will end up at a seventh barn for a barbecue lunch provided by the Douglas County Farm Bureau. And you will receive a memorial barn booklet featuring photos and descriptions of the barns as well as a cowboy poem written especially for the tour by cowboy poet Ken Gardner.

Tickets for this tour are $25 per person and are limited. They are on sale now at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville, Tahoe Ridge Winery and, after May 3, at the Genoa Court House Museum. If you prefer, you may call the Gardnerville Museum at 782-2555 to order by credit card and have your ticket mailed to you.

If you have any questions about anything mentioned here, please call the Douglas County Historical Society at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville at 782-2555. Visit our Web site at www.historicnevada.org. Remember, DCHS and its two museums do not receive any regular state or county funding. It's up to our members and friends to help us keep our doors open.

-- Contact Ellen Caywood at in2my2cats@yahoo.com or at 790-1565.