Alpine Museum wraps up season

The conflict between the county and the historical society might have slowed visitors to the Alpine County Museum.

Only 42 people visited the museum in September, and Alpine County Supervisor David Griffith might have accounted for a couple of those, supervisors were told on Oct. 15.

The museum is scheduled to be open this weekend and on Halloween before it closes for the winter, according to Library Director Rita Lovell.

She said it will reopen in May 2025.

What it looks like then will depend on litigation between the county and the Alpine County Historical Society.

The historical society sued the county in June over the operation of the museum. An Oct. 1 deadline for the society to remove its artifacts from the museum was extended to the end of the month.

On Oct. 15, Alpine County Counsel Charles McKee said that work continues to resolve the litigation in Superior Court.

“I’m hopeful we can resolve things soon,” he said. “The museum is still open and should be open.”

At a Sept. 17 meeting, residents asked the Board of Supervisors to rescind the 90-day notice for the Historical Society to vacate the museum.

Residents presented a petition to supervisors with 163 names on it asking the board to consider the action.

The proposal to rescind the notice of the 34-year-old agreement didn’t even get a hearing on Oct. 1 when supervisors ran into a procedural item to waive the governance manual.