Discover new exhibits at Gardnerville museum

There are several window dioramas worth discovering in the back door lobby of the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center.

The exhibit committee has been updating and improving all over the museum this summer and this elevator lobby is just one location. They have installed a Civil War diorama featuring a Sibley stove, an innovation that greatly helped soldiers during the conflicts of that era.

The Sibley stove was an accessory to the Sibley tent which was based on the plains Indians' tepees. The stove was constructed of metal and included a stove pipe in sections which vented the smoke out the top of the tent. It was small, lightweight and easily transported. The tent held up to 20 soldiers while the stove kept them warm.

After the stove was retired from military use, it was used as a smudge pot in the citrus groves in Florida. Henry Hopkins Sibley, inventor the tent and stove, never received compensation for his ideas, but instead was considered as having "aided and abetted the rebellion" known as the Civil War.

Other dioramas in the elevator lobby include World War I uniforms and equipment, Washoe baskets and a stone carving and a statue and plaque dedicated to Snowshoe Thompson. The poles that resemble Snowshoe's old wooden skis aren't skis; they are a World War I military stretcher.

Don't forget the swap meet 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. After you check out what's available in the parking lot, stop in the museum and see the Sibley stove and this one exhibit room you've probably missed before.

Take a photo of what August in Douglas County means to you and enter it in the contest by Aug. 31. We'll announce the winner in the Sept. 4 column.

For any questions, contact the Douglas County Historical Society at www.historicnevada.org or at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville at 782-2555. Remember, DCHS and its two museums in Gardnerville and Genoa don't 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 790-1565 or in2my2cats@yahoo.com