Monday, September 25, 2017

Heritage Trail 2017 Winners

This was a summer of record setting attendance at many of the participating Heritage Trail museums. Below is a winner's gallery of trail travelers who entered raffles along the way.

Thanks to everyone who visited museums this summer!

Abigail - Benton Welty School Room Raffle Winner
Aubrey & Nathan - Scavenger Hunt Winners
Pearl - 2017 Raffle Winner
Steven & Father - 2017 Raffle Winner

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

The 2017 Heritage Trail Guide Online!


TRAIL CALENDAR
SUMMER LONG ADVENTURE 2017


 21 MUSEUMS - ROSEVILLE TO TAHOE!

NEW! Placer County Student Scavenger Hunt! Great Prizes!

Welcome Trail Travelers!
We are glad you decided to join us on the 2017 Heritage Trail Museums Tour. This is the 10th year for the event and 21 museums from Roseville to Tahoe are opening their doors free of charge for certain days throughout the summer. All 21 museums are committed to showcasing history in a fun and entertaining way. For many Trail Travelers, this event has become a family tradition. This year, just as last year, geographic clusters of museums will have their Heritage Trail event on certain Saturdays throughout the summer.  This way you have the whole summer to visit participating museums.
 If you can’t make it on their Heritage Trail day, you can visit them during their regular hours of operation and still get your Get-Up-And-Go cards stamped!  All museums have free admission on their Heritage Trail day (see calendar below). If you visit them on any other day, you will have to pay admission if applicable.
Whether you are from Auburn, Reno, San Francisco, or Boston, please enjoy this opportunity to take a trip back in time and get a better understanding of Placer County’s rich and colorful history. Each museum on the tour is unique. Aside from immersing yourselves in history, you will enjoy the variety of settings at each museum.


Please read the calendar on the following pages.  Thanks again for joining us. We hope you have a great time!

Ralph Gibson
Placer County Museums Administrator
Chairperson, The Heritage Trail
TRAIL TIPS
THE FOLLOWING TRAIL TIPS WILL HELP YOU PLAN YOUR ADVENTURE.
·         For questions about The Heritage Trail, please call 530-889-6500.
·         Eating, drinking and smoking are not permitted in the museums.
·         Leave pets at home.
·         You’ll want to bring your camera. Inquire at each museum for flash photography guidelines.
·         Be sure to pick up your FREE Get Up & Go card at the first museum you visit.
·         If you can’t make it to a museum on their Heritage Trail Day, please visit them during regular hours of operation.
·         This year it will take 8 stamps on your Get-Up-And-Go card to qualify for a gift basket drawing.


June 17th  10:00 am – 4:00 pm

All three museums have Air Conditioning and plenty of water!

Bernhard Museum
291 Auburn Folsom Rd., Auburn
Living History activities, watermelon, hand-cranked ice cream, sunflower seed spitting contest, wagons restored by the Native Sons of the Golden West Parlor #59, museum tours, Blacksmith demonstration, live music and Bonitata Boutique Wines will have a selection available for tasting after 12:00 pm. Bring your lunch and picnic on the grounds!
Normal Hours of Operation: Tuesday–Sunday 11:00-4:00

Benton Welty School Room
1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn
Auburn Grammar School, built in 1915 (now Auburn City Hall), listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Get a rare sense of old school days in a classroom packed with photos, scrapbooks, maps and old school books. Try your hand at string games and penmanship. Young visitors will be engaged with 1916 classroom activities. Enter the free “just for kids” basket drawing. Ample parking behind building.
Normal Hours of Operation: Open by appointment only.

Gold Rush Museum
601 Lincoln Way, Auburn
Pan for gold with the Motherlode Gold Hounds, tour museum which includes a replica mining tunnel, gold rush era artifacts and play an interactive Gold Rush game.
Normal hours of operation: Friday-Sunday, 10:30 am - 4:00 pm




June 24th

* In association with the 2017 The Heritage Trail, the California Conference of Historical Societies will have a "Book Fest on the Plaza" in front of the Lincoln Area Archives Museum on June 24th as part of their 63rd Annual Meeting.  For more information about the CCHS and their Annual Meeting activities, please visit their website: http://www.californiahistorian.com or http://www.annualmeeting.californiahistorian.com


Lincoln Area Archives Museum   10:00 am – 4:00 pm
640 Fifth St., Lincoln
916-645-3800  www.laamca.org
View Nisenan artifacts, Gladding McBean & Co. photographs, a gold scale from the Van Trent Mine, military uniforms and artifacts and Chinese baskets.  Also on display are a restored buggy and a grain scale from the local Walter Jansen & Son.  Enjoy an on-going wood burning stove cooking demonstration and enter a prize drawing for books written by local historian Jerry Logan. Beverages and cookies available.
Normal Hours of Operation: Tuesday through Friday 11:00-3:00 and the 1st Saturday of each month 11:00-3:00.

Fruitvale School    10:00 am – 3:00 pm
3425 Fruitvale Rd., Lincoln
Witness the education that farm children received 100 years ago in a one room school house in rural Lincoln. Experience hands-on Living History activities and be sure to bring your picnic basket and enjoy lunch on the grounds!
Normal Hours of Operation: Open by appointment only.


July 1st 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Gatekeepers Museum
130 West Lake Blvd., Tahoe City
530-583-1762  www.northtahoemuseums.org
View the Marion Steinbach Indian Basket Collection and exhibits on Tahoe history; join a 10:00 am walking tour of Tahoe City; and special activity outside.
Normal Hours of Operation: Daily 10:00-5:00

Watson Cabin
560 North Lake Blvd., Tahoe City
Built in 1909 by Robert Watson as a wedding present for his son, the Watson Cabin is the oldest building constructed onsite in Tahoe City and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  View pioneer artifacts from early Tahoe with docent-led tours.
Normal Hours of Operation: (summer: Wed-Sun 12-4).


July 8th  10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Placer County Museum (Historic Courthouse)
101 Maple St., Auburn
Overview of Placer County history, Pate Collection of American Indian Artifacts, gold collection, restored Sheriff’s Office, Women’s Jail with Alma Bell, Placer County authors table and the Placer County Genealogical Society will offer guidance on family history research. * NEW - Recreation of Elmer Gum testimony during Alma Bell trial in Historic Courtroom! This will be done several times when a good crowd is in the Courthouse between 10:00 and 1:00 with tours of the Courtroom in the afternoon.
Normal Hours of Operation: Daily 10:00-4:00

Gold Country Medical History Museum
219-100 Maple St., Auburn
Restored Victorian building is on the site of the original Placer County hospital. See medical, dental and nursing implements, equipment, furnishings, pharmaceuticals, ephemera, and a collection of “quackery”. They offer demonstrations of quackery, tours and interpretation of artifacts.
Normal Hours of Operation: Saturdays 10:00-3:00, spring thru Labor Day.

Auburn Joss House Chinese Museum
200 Sacramento St., Auburn
530-346-7121
View original Joss House Altar (c. 1880) and artifacts from the early Auburn Chinese community. The Joss House was a Chinese school, Ling Ying Association meeting place and a hostel for transient Chinese primarily from the mid-1920s to the late 1960s.
Open 1st Saturday of the month, 10:00-3:00


July 15th

Griffith Quarry Museum  8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Corner of Taylor and Rock Springs Roads, Penryn
View exhibits on granite quarrying, the Penryn Granite Works business, the history of Penryn and the Griffith Family.  Hands-on exhibits, restored vintage wagon used in the area and a guided tour of the Quarry Park at 8:30 am - before the heat hits!
Normal Hours of Operation: Saturday and Sunday 12:00-4:00


Rocklin History Museum 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
3895 Rocklin Rd., Rocklin
916-624-3464  www.rocklinhistory.org
View exhibits on Rocklin pioneers, buildings and granite quarrying plus extensive photographs and interpretation of J.P. Whitney and his land holdings. Granite splitting demonstration at 11:00 am. Don't miss this demonstration - you can visit the Griffith Quarry Museum and Rocklin Museum all before noon and the heat!
Normal Hours of Operation: Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday 1:00-4:00


August 5th  10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Maidu Museum & Historic Site
1970 Johnson Ranch Dr., Roseville
Explore site where Valley Nisenan Maidu Indians lived for thousands of years; discover native plants and over 400 bedrock-grinding holes; experience unique and rare sandstone petroglyphs; hand-on children’s activities, guided tours at 10:00 and 1:00, and an indigenous art gallery. Gift Shop offers a wide selection of books about Native Californians, handmade jewelry, minerals, arrowheads and snacks & drinks.
Normal Hours of Operation: Monday-Thursday 9:00-4:00, and Saturday 9:00-1:00

Roseville Telephone Museum
106 Vernon St., Roseville
The Roseville Telephone Museum has one of the most extensive collections of antique telephones and memorabilia in the nation. The exhibits in the 4,500 square-foot museum chronicle and celebrate more than a century of communications technology in Roseville as well as nationally and internationally. A visit to the Roseville Telephone Museum makes a fun and educational family outing, a great school field trip or a group sight-seeing tour destination. Our museum docents are current and retired employees who are passionate about telephone history and volunteer their time to share it with visitors of all ages. Presented by Consolidated Communications, this museum offers not only rare telephones, but also a demonstration of an early switchboard.
Normal Hours of Operation: First Saturday of the month 10:00-2:00.

Roseville Historical Society Carnegie Museum
557 Lincoln St., Roseville
The Roseville Historical Society's Carnegie Museum is filled with artifacts of Roseville's past! We highlight our train display, a massive "N" gauge model railroad depicting Roseville's Old Town and peeks into our turn-of-the-century past. This year we are also featuring our pioneer Fiddyment family, their story, beginning with matriarch Elizabeth Jane, and how the family depicted the days when our area was all about the land and its resources. The museum has been completed renovated so even if you've been here before, it is a brand new museum with new exhibits and interactive experiences for kids!
Normal Hours of Operation: Tuesday thru Friday 12:00- 4:00; 1st & 3rd Saturdays 10:00-2:00.


August 12th  10:00 am – 4:00 pm* (Donner Summit HikingTour start at 9:30 am)

Colfax Area Heritage Museum

99 Railroad St., Colfax
530-346-8599  www.colfaxhistory.org
View exhibits on the history of the railroad, gold mining, fruit ranching, pioneer life as well as the Maidu Indians and the Chinese.  Live music by the Begin Family as well as a gold mining display and demonstration.
Normal Hours of Operation: 10:00-3:00 Daily

Golden Drift Museum
32820 Main St., Dutch Flat
Visit the best preserved Gold Rush town in Placer County.  View exhibits on nearby towns, gold mining, the railroad, the Towle Lumber Company, the Maidu Indians, and the Chinese. Guided Walking Tour of Dutch Flat at 10:00 am & Cemetery Tour at 11:00 am. Free refreshments.
Normal Hours of Operation: Memorial Day- September: Friday – Sunday 12:00-4:00

Donner Summit Historical Society Museum
21501 Donner Pass Rd., Norden
Donner Summit is the richest historical area in California: first wagon trains, first transcontinental railroad, highway telephone line and air route. On Saturday and Sunday they will offer tours down Summit Canyon. On this, our sixth year, we're going down Summit Canyon again - downhill all the way, with a car shuttle back up. Of course the walk will be illustrated with dozens of historic photographs and lots of stories.  We'll stop for lunch at a nice view, so bring a lunch.  Meet at the Sugar Bowl Academy Building on Old 40.
Take Old 40 to Donner Summit.  The Sugar Bowl Academy is the large building on Old 40 right at the top. If you go east from there it is steeply downhill to Rainbow Bridge. If you go west from there the next thing to see is Donner Ski Ranch on the right. 
Bring Hat, good shoes, sunscreen, water, camera, lunch, curiosity.
*Tours meet at 9:30 am both days.
Normal Hours of Operation: Saturday and Sunday 10:00-4:00


August 13th 9:30 am

Summit Canyon Hike (Donner Summit Historical Society)
See entry above for details.


August 26th  8:00 am – Noon

Sierra College Natural History Museum
5000 Rocklin Rd., Rocklin
Enjoy exhibits on contemporary nature in our region as well as fossils of life that lived millions of years ago.
Normal Hours of Operation: Open when school is in session; Mon-Thurs. 7:00 am – 9:00 pm, Fridays 7:00 am – 5:00 pm, and Saturdays 8:00 am – noon.


September 1st 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm

DeWitt History Museum
2985 Richardson Dr., Auburn
View exhibits on the history of the DeWitt Government Center from its inception as a World War II Army Hospital, its use as a State Mental Hospital and finally its use as a Placer County Government Center. Displays will also cover the early history of the area from Nisenan Maidu Indians to early mining and ranching
Normal Hours of Operation: This museum is not yet open.


September 2nd & 3rd 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Forest Hill Divide Museum
24601 Harrison St., Foresthill
530-367-3988  www.foresthillhistory.org
Watch blacksmiths craft period tools, view exhibits on mining, Native American Heritage, the lumber industry, fires & firefighting and life in the Victorian era.  Hands-on activities for kids, re-enactments, craft and food booths, gold panning demonstrations, and visitors can watch the State and National Gold Panning championships. They are combining the Heritage Trail with their annual Heritage Festival.
Memorial Day - Labor Day Saturday and Sunday 12:00-4:00



Get-Up-And-Go Cards
You can pick-up your Get-Up-And-Go cards at the first Heritage Trail Day (June 17th) from the Bernhard Museum, Benton Welty School Room or the Gold Rush Museum.  After that day, you can pick up Get-Up-And-Go cards from any participating museum.  You can pick up cards and get them stamped on any day the museum is open throughout the summer.  This year, it will take 8 stamps on your card to enter the drawing for a gift basket. Please remember that you can only play one Get-Up-And-Go card at a time.  You are free to start another card once you have turned in a fully stamped card.   



 *****



Museum Calendar of Events Outside of Heritage Trail



Maidu Museum & Historic Site
916-774-5934

June – August                     Archery Camps and Classes - Certified archery instructors work with you according to your skill level. Archery classes for beginners to experienced. All equipment is provided. Archery for All Skill Levels (Ages 7+), Archery for Adults (Ages 18+), Archery I (Ages 9-16), Archery II (Ages 9-16), Field Archery (Ages 9-16), Archery Range Fun and Games (Ages 9-16). Pre-registration is required. Register by phone (916) 772-PLAY.

April 15 – August 25          News from Native California: 30 Years of Cultural Renewal - Exhibit in the Indigenous Art Gallery.

May 13 – August 5                     Maidu Eyes Have Shown Me - Exhibit in the Zents Gallery

August 15 – Sept. 21         Volunteer Guide Training: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am – 1pm. If you like working with kids and learning about local history and cultural heritage, join our team of volunteer guides. After training, volunteer docents lead tours of the museum and historic site to help teach children about native culture and the environment.

*****



North Lake Tahoe Historical Society
530-583-1762

May 27                    Gatekeepers Museum Summer Hours begin (Daily 10-5)

June 14                   Watson Cabin opens for the season (Wed-Sun 12-4)

June 17                   Tahoe City Wine Walk ($)

July 16                    Annual Gathering at the Gatekeepers Museum ($)

Aug 10                    44th Home Tour ($)

Aug 17                    Lecture and Book Signing with Gary Noy (FREE)

Aug 27                     Native American Weaver’s Market (FREE)

Sept 3                      Watson Cabin closes for the season

Sept 4                      Labor Day Cruise

Sept 5                      Gatekeeper’s Fall Hours Begin (Thurs-Tues 11-4)

Nov 1                       Gatekeeper’s Winter Hours Begin (Thurs-Sun 11-4)

*****


Donner Summit Historical Society
530-308-9668

Oct. 14                   Donner Party Hikes: $75 per hiker if registered before Oct. 3rd.         Includes guided hike, commemorative hat, hamburger lunch and afternoon presentation. Please visit www.donnerpartyhike.com for more details and to register.

Oct. 15                   Donner Party Hikes/Walking Tour: $100 per hiker if registered before Oct. 3rd. Includes guided hike, commemorative hat, hamburger lunch and afternoon presentation plus the Sunday Interpretive Walks, entrance to the new museum and Day Use at the Donner Memorial State Park. Please visit www.donnerpartyhike.com for more details and to register.


Thank you to our sponsors: Consolidated Communications, Placer County and the Native Sons of the Golden West Parlors #59 and #63!

Friday, April 21, 2017

What is the Heritage Trail?


The Heritage Trail is a summer-long road trip through history where 21 museums throughout Placer County open their doors admission free for one special day.  To make it easier to see all the history our county has to offer, only small geographic clusters of museums will have their "Heritage Trail Day" on a given Saturday throughout the summer (see schedule in post below).  The event kicks off in Auburn with the Bernhard Museum, Benton-Welty Schoolroom and the Gold Rush Museum on June 17th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Most museums will have special activities for the whole family to enjoy.  Keep checking this blog for our 2017 Trail Guide which should be posted in the next couple weeks.


Thursday, April 6, 2017

Heritage Trail Dates 2017

The dates for this summer's road trip are in place and we're ready to welcome you at 21 different museums in Placer County.

June 17 

Auburn
Bernhard Museum 10-4
Gold Rush Museum 10-4
Benton-Welty School Rm 10-4

June 24 

Lincoln
Lincoln Area Archives Museum 10-4
Fruitvale School 10-3

July 1 

Tahoe City
Gatekeepers Museum 10-5
Watson Cabin 10-5

July 8 

Auburn
Placer County Museum 10-4
Auburn Chinese Joss House 10-4
Gold Country Medical History Museum 10-4

July 15 

Penryn/Rocklin
Griffith Quarry Museum 8-12
Rocklin History Museum 10-4

August 5 

Roseville
Roseville Historical Society Carnegie Museum 10-4
Roseville Telephone Museum 10-4
Maidu Museum and Historic Site 10-4

August 12 

Colfax/Dutch Flat/Norden
Colfax Area Heritage Museum 10-4
Golden Drift Museum 10-4
Donner Summit Historical Society Museum 10-4

August 26 

Rocklin
 Sierra College Natural History Museum 8-12

September 1 

North Auburn
DeWitt History Museum 4-7

September 2 & 3 

Foresthill 
Forest Hill Divide Museum 10-4