By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer

The free Mountain History Museum will be open each weekend in October, weather permitting, with a special display the last two weekends of the month, Oct. 22 and 23 and Oct. 29 and 30.
Beginning Saturday, Oct. 22 the museum will be turned into a “Spooky Museum” with displays, activities and crafts focused on bats and other seasonal topics, with spooky decorations intermixed in the displays reflecting the spooky holiday theme from 10:30 to 4:30.
Those weeks are the U.S. Forest Service’s Bat Week. The museum and its volunteers hope to complement the topic with arts and crafts for youngsters of all ages, from noon to 3 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.
Learn about bats, their place in the ecosystem, how they benefit nature, and yet also how threatening they can be to humans, as they may have rabies and other diseases dangerous to humans and therefore are not playthings. Learn their skeletal structure, where their hands are located, and much more. Also, learn how they earned their spooky spot in literature, and American Halloween culture, in a fun environment surrounded by others who want to learn about them. Come in costume, if you wish, as museum volunteers will be in costume, too.
The Mountain History Museum is a grassroots local group that, since the historical society was formed in 1986, has focused on sharing the local history of the communities, natural history, and the people who challenged the elements to live up on the mountain in the forest, resulting in the unique history of the mountain communities.
The Spooky Museum will be open two weekends only, on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22 and 23 and Oct. 29 and 30, and then will close until Thanksgiving weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Nov. 25, 26, and 27. Then the museum will be open the weekend of Dec. 10 and 11 for holiday shopping for the local historian in your family, and visitors will have the opportunity to take free selfies with Santa, from noon to 3 p.m. that weekend.
The Mountain History Museum, located at 27176 Peninsula Drive at the corner of Rhine Road, around the corner from Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School in Lake Arrowhead, is run by volunteers who are dedicated to bringing local history to the people in a fun and interesting way. They receive their historical artifacts from the donation of items from those collectors who are moving away or those who arrive and find historical items in their new homes, left by previous residents. They are completely funded by donations.
For more information, visit https://mtnmuseum.org or call them at (909) 744-8625; they have an answering machine for those hours when they are closed. They have plans to be open one weekend per month during the winter, weather permitting, with dates to be announced for 2023 soon.
During the weeks over the winter months when they are closed, museum volunteers welcome pre-arranged group tours of the museum, for Scouts, schools, churches, reunions, seniors, or other groups. Call the phone number or email them for additional information on programs and services offered.