Nevada History

On Saturday, September 28, at 10:00 am, the final event of the 2019 Festival season features members of the 1962 graduating class of Douglas High School sharing their memories of Carson Valley in the 1950s and 1960s.

Carson Valley has always been a unique, close-knit community. Of the original thirty-five graduating students, twenty-one are still living, many of whom have remained in Carson Valley.

Graduates of the Douglas High School Class of 1962 continue to meet regularly, explaining that they are good friends who enjoy reminiscing.

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The month of August begins with a presentation on “The Great State Embezzlement”, Mo’z Motley Blues in concert and a presentation on “The History of Baseball in Nevada” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park.

On Sunday, August 4, at 10:00 am, Glen Whorton, President of the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society, returns to the park to speak on this year’s topic “The Great State Embezzlement”. This is a free event for all to attend.

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Early June events launch the 2019 Summer Festival at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park.

On Saturday, June 1, at 10:00 am, Wendell Huffman, Curator of History at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, will speak on the history of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in Carson Valley, as well as the 150th Anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. This is a free event.

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Chautauquan Deke DiMarzo will portray Watchman Alex Coryell: Virginia City Police Department 1873 to 1891 at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, August 15 at 6:30 pm.

Alex R. Coryell was a watchman for the Virginia City Police Department from 1873 until June 25, 1891. Coryell was a Civil War veteran who left the state of Virginia after the war and moved to Virginia City, Nevada. His family became well known and prominent in Virginia City, with one of his relatives becoming a pharmacist on C Street.

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Authors Karen Dustman and Laurie Hickey will speak on their book The Old Genoa Cemetery: A Walking Tour – Book 1, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, July 28, at 10:00 am.

The Old Genoa Cemetery: A Walking Tour – Book 1 is the first book in a four volume series of books written by historians Karen Dustman and Laurie Hickey, which highlight Genoa and Carson Valley’s earliest and most prominent settlers.

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Author and grandson of Fred Dangberg Jr., Steve Achard will speak on his book Lost Legacy of Carson Valley, as well as his memories of growing up at the Home Ranch, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, July 15, at 10:00 am.

The book Lost Legacy of Carson Valley, which Steve Achard co-authored with Conrad Buedel, shares the history of H. F. Dangberg Sr., as well as the rise and fall of one of Nevada’s most prominent pioneer families.

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Young Chautauquans of the Douglas County Historical Society will present “Home Means Nevada” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, June 27, at 6:30 pm.

The Douglas County Historical Society Young Chautauqua presenters are 6 year old Samuel portraying “Claire Vance”, 5 year old Levi portraying “Abraham Curry”, 9 year old Rain portraying “Charley Parkhurst”, 11 year old Miciah portraying “George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.”, 16 year old Sandia portraying “Bessie Johnson”, 11 year old Adalee portraying “Tracy Knight” and 10 year old Mamre portraying “Benjamin Siegel”.

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Snowshoe Thompson, Julia Bulette and Mark Twain Together Again: What could possibly go wrong?

Featuring Steve Hale as "Snowshoe Thompson", Kim Harris as "Julia Bulette" and McAvoy Layne as "Mark Twain" presenting history and comedy as you've not seen since the last time they were together!

Doors open at 6:15 p.m. Donation at the door is $20 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under. Cash, or Checks made payable to FOST are acceptable. Sorry, no credit cards.

Open seating. No-host bar. Dessert during intermission.

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Michael E. Fischer will portray the tenth governor of Nevada, John Sparks, at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, August 23, at 6:30 pm.

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Author Bonnie Boice Nishikawa will speak on her book Nevada State Orphans/Children’s Home: My Life as a “Home” Kid at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, August 6, at 10:00 am.

The Nevada State Orphans Home at Carson City was authorized in 1869 by the legislature with construction beginning the same year. The first child was admitted in October of 1870.

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Steve Hale will portray the legendary mailman of the Sierra, Jon A. “Snowshoe Thompson, at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, June 21, at 6:30 pm.

When Jon Thompson put on his 8-foot skis and heavy leather mail pack in 1856, he skied to Genoa and into history. His two to three day 90-mile crossings (one way) carrying the mail and valuable packages of up to 100 pounds on his back through the snow have never been physically duplicated, not even with modern equipment. This extraordinary feat has become part of the legacy and spirit of the pioneer American West.

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Historian Steve Davis will speak on a visual exploration of photography and the American West in the nineteenth century, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, September 3, at 10:00 am.

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Historian Michael E. Fischer will speak on Baby Face Nelson in Nevada in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 13, at 10:00 am.

Few people living in Nevada today know that Baby Face Nelson, whose given name was Lester Gillis, spent a great deal of time in Nevada. He was avoiding the heat from authorities in the Midwest. In Reno, he was afforded protection from arrest and incarceration because of his connections to Bill Graham and James McKay. Their political and business connections covered almost the entire state.

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The Battle Born Civil War Reenactors will present their program, “From Bloomers to Bonnets: A Civil War Historic Dressing”, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, July 30, at 10:00 am.

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Larry Ford will present “Virgil Earp: The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, July 20, at 6:30 pm.

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Chautauqua performers Dana Blane, Larry Lippmann and Mike Trute will portray local historical figures Donner Party survivor “Patty Reed”, Stagecoach driver “Hank Monk” and U.S. Marshall “Warren Wasson” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, July 6, at 6:30 pm.

Patty Reed was 8 years old when her family joined the movement west to settle in California. As survivors of the ill-fated 1846 Donner Party, the tremendous hardships they endured left the family destitute. The little doll Patty hid in her clothing survives until this day.

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Author Michael S. Green will discuss his book Nevada: A History of the Silver State in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, September 27, at 10:00 am.
Michael S. Green, a leading Nevada historian, provides a detailed survey of the Silver State’s past, from the arrival of the early European explorers, to the predominance of mining in the 1800s, to the rise of world-class tourism in the twentieth century, and more recent attempts to diversify the economy.

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Chautauqua presenters Dana Lee Fruend, Yvonne Sullivan, Janet Baker and Judy Quinlan will portray Nevada pioneer women “Nellie Mighels Davis”, “Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Kincead”, “Whilhelmina Springmeyer” and “Hannah Clapp” in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 15, at 10:00 am.

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The El Dorado Chapter of the California Native Plant Society presents Before and After the Flames: Fire, Forest and Climate Change in the Sierra Nevada, a talk by Dr. Hugh D. Safford, Senior Vegetation Ecologist for the US Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region (including California, Hawaii and Pacific Islands) and Dr. Becky Estes, ecologist with the the US Forest Service, Tuesday, January 27th, 7pm at the Planning Commission Meeting Room, Building C of the County Office Buildings, 2850 Fairlane Court in Placerville. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Gary Noy, author of Sierra Stories: Tales of Dreamers, Schemers, Bigots and Rogues, will sign books and lecture as a Benefit for the South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center on August 2, 2014 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The author will make a presentation and sign books to help raise money for the agency.

The event will take place at the Center’s Bookworks Bookstore located at 3330 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe.

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(AP) - Former state Sen. Bill Raggio, the prominent Reno Republican who was the longest-serving state senator in Nevada history when he retired in January 2011, has died at age 85.He was first elec...