By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The Mountain History Museum has been closed all winter because of broken front windows, but it is now ready to invite the entire community to visit it sometime this summer to see its new exhibits and displays.
The new display on Green Valley Lake was created to celebrate the centennial of the start of the construction the dam for Green Valley’s lake.
The museum will be opening on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, May 23, at noon and be open until 4 p.m. Then it will be open every Friday from noon to 4 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The museum will also be open Memorial Day Monday from noon to 4 p.m. Admission and parking are free.
There are several new displays in the museum this season. This is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the building of Green Valley Lake, so the museum has designed a special display on the building of the lake.
The new sunny route that was created meant people stopped driving along the old 1890s rutted and northern route that went through Green Valley. The community of Green Valley, inspired by a man nicknamed Green Valley Mac, built a lake beginning in 1925 to encourage people to visit the highest-elevation residential community in these mountains. During the years since, GVL transformed itself into a four-season community with winter skiing and snowshoeing and summer lake and fishing activities.
Another great display is the local forest display, with close-up examples of local animals such as a bear, deer, racoons, foxes, squirrels and other forest birds and animals. At the Mountain Museum the animal experience is almost better than even seeing them live, as the children (and adults) are closer to them than is possible in real life. The museum also offers some hands-on exhibits that parents and children find fascinating, where they can explore the textures and densities of various animal furs, if they wish.
The national forest display put together by former forest ranger and life-long resident Brad Burns has been revamped and expanded. It shows the evolution of the San Bernadino National Forest from its inception, including the locations of all SBNF ranger stations, and includes items from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from the 1930s which helped build much of the infrastructure of these mountains. The CCC was a New Deal program employing young men from 1933 to 1940 with projects focused on planting trees, building trails, constructing infrastructure and developing recreational facilities in national forests, including the San Bernardino National Forest.
A new display on recreation at Lake Arrowhead includes wool swimsuits from the 1920s, with a display on the various excursion boats that have cruised the lake.
The general store display has been redesigned and the post office display has been reimagined and relocated. These two community elements were central meeting locations; for any area to become a town, both were essential.
Each mountain community has a unique history and features that make it so. The various communities have displays highlighting that community, and its history. Many communities were personality driven; at other times, it was the topography or geology that made it that choice of those who moved there. Each town has its own story.
Another display increasing in size is on the topic of the Serrano Indians in the San Bernardino Mountains, their foods, baskets and history and why they are missing from decades of the mountain’s history.
The Mountain History Museum is located 27176 Peninsula Drive at Rhine Road in Lake Arrowhead.
Upcoming events
On Friday, July 4 the Rim of the World Historical Society will host its annual free ice cream social in the patio of the museum, from noon to 2 p.m. Come see the exhibits and have some ice cream This is done in honor of long-time members Jim and Doe Huff who moved the museum forward in so many ways over the decades.
This June the museum’s first off-site event will be their annual Antique and Classic Wooden Boat and Woodie Car Show on June 7 at Lake Arrowhead Village from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The show is free except for entering the ALA dock area, which is $5 at the gate, for an up-close view of the boats and the opportunity to speak with some of the boat owners. The Up the Hill Woodie Car Club will be showing off their woodie cars that will be parked along the lakeshore.
The Celebrity and Movie History Cruise on the Arrowhead Queen on Lake Arrowhead will take place on Friday, June 27. Tickets are now available on the museum’s website at www.mtnmuseum.org for $40 each.
The entire San Bernardino National Forest display has been redone, with a new showcase containing items and memorabilia on the Depression Era Civilian Conservation Corps workers who did a large quantity of construction on this mountain.
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