Genoa museum opens Saturday

Saturday is a banner day for both museums. The Genoa Court House Museum opens for the season at 10 a.m. and Saturday is also Student/Senior Day at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville where students and seniors get in free.

The featured lecturer at Student Day is Paul Spears who uses puppets to demonstrate American Sign Language. Spears uses all kinds of puppets, but the most unusual are those which are created to sign. Guided museum tours are at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.

Historian Bob Ellison is the featured speaker for the ongoing lecture series, 7 p.m. May 8, at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center. Ellison will portray Warren Wasson, Genoa pioneer and first U.S. Marshall. The free lectures are in the upstairs main gallery. The Main Street Bookstore will be open and Ellison's books will be available for purchase as well.

The Douglas County Historical Society holds its annual membership meeting, 7 p.m. May 15. Up for election are the positions of president, vice president and treasurer. If you are a member, please vote. Your input is important. If you are not a member, join. Then you too can vote. The meeting will be held in the downstairs meeting room.

The Historic Emigrant Trail Barn Tour is May 24. Tickets are on sale at the Carson Valley museum, Tahoe Ridge Winery, at the Genoa Court House Museum and by credit card by calling 782-2555. A limited number of tickets are availble and are selling rapidly.

For $25, each person receives admission into all the barns on the tour as well as a commemorative barn booklet. The book contains a cowboy poem by cowboy poet Ken Gardner and photos and descriptions of the barns. The tour ends with a barbecue lunch sponsored by the Douglas County Farm Bureau.

Barns open for touring include the Cuttin' Loose Barn, the Van Sickle Station Barn, which is now known as Tahoe Ridge Winery and Jubilee Ranch Barn. Also on the tour is Dr. Eliza Cook's historic house, now an antique store.

That's just some of what is on tap at your local museums for May. We hope to see you at as many of these events as you can attend.

Submissions for the Douglas County Historical Society's May Photo Contest may be dropped off at the Carson Valley museum in Gardnerville by 4 p.m. on the last day of the month (except Sundays) or e-mailed to me at in2my2cats@yahoo.com.

If you have any questions about anything mentioned here, call the Douglas County Historical Society at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville at 782-2555 or 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.