by Karen Dustman, Special to The R-C
Call it a six-ton miracle. Thanks to some tenacious volunteers, the Alpine County Museum is welcoming a rare new addition - a vintage Basque-German bread oven, from Hope Valley's old sheepherder days.
"Imagine trying to lift a four-foot high pile of bricks loosely held together with fragile mortar," said museum curator Wanda Coyan. "People shook their heads and said it couldn't be done. And our intrepid volunteers scratched their heads, and did it."
Now safely at home on the museum grounds, the old brick oven is awaiting a new foundation and some interior repair, but should soon be ready for its formal dedication.
"The museum is planning a special celebration to welcome the historic oven in Aug. 28, firing it up for a day of bread-baking and pizza-making," said Coyan.
This unusual project brought together just a few of the museum's crew of 20-plus dedicated volunteers. "Our volunteers are so essential to the museum's ongoing operations - staffing the museum store, planting flowers and weeding gardens, baking treats for special events, and serving as docents to run the old stamp mill," said Coyan. "We are so fortunate to have a great crew of dedicated hands ready to pitch in, whatever the task."
To thank her cadre of volunteers, Coyan recently hosted a volunteer appreciation tea at the Woodfords Mountain & Garden House, mixing home-baked tarts and chocolate-dipped strawberries with large doses of camaraderie. "It was a small way to say thank-you because without our volunteers, our museum couldn't do everything we do," Coyan said.
New projects will soon put museum volunteers back to work. In June, Planting Day at the Museum will refurbish the flower beds and add seasonal blooms around the building exterior. Also in the works is a plan to restore the old Markleeville cemetery and locate long-neglected graves, perhaps adding benches and an access trail.
"If you have a talent, we'll put you to work," laughed Coyan. "We have a marvelous group of dedicated folks, and it's been so much fun to rediscover history together."
For more information about volunteer activities at the Alpine County Museum, contact Wanda Coyan, Curator, at (530) 694-2317.
The Basque-German bread oven was used to bake bread for the sheepherders in Hope Valley.
Photo by Judi Wickwire
