The old wooden headstones that once graced Markleeville Cemetery have long since turned to dust. Time, neglect and a bit of vandalism have wreaked havoc here; sadly, most of those who rest in this historic cemetery now lie in unmarked graves. But this week, at least one of the cemetery’s mysteries was solved! Thanks to […]
Memoir Writing: Getting Unstuck
It happens to every would-be memoir writer: your words somehow just stop flowing. Or maybe, despite good intentions, they never get started. So you keep telling your kids you’ll get those family stories on paper. You ogle memoir books in the library and your local history museum. But when you sit down in front of […]
Walt Monroe Exhibit
Alpine County artist Walt Monroe was born in the tiny mining town of Monitor in 1881. His artistic talent became evident quite early when he began sketching murals in chalk on the schoolhouse walls at the old Webster School. At the age of 17, Walt had his first exhibit of wooden carvings. “In Markleeville, […]
Six Tips for Memoir Writers
We all have wonderful stories to tell! But memoir-writing can open up parts of yourself that you’ve long kept sealed. No wonder it’s so easy to put off! If you have a memoir inside that’s struggling to get written, here are six tips to help get your life story down on paper: 1. Start with […]
Bootleg Liquor
Back in the 1860s, young Alpine County slapped fees on just about every article and activity. Would-be voters ponied up $2 in poll tax for the privilege of casting their ballot. There was a broker’s license; a license to sell merchandise; a theater license; a peddler’s license; and a license for keeping billiard tables. On […]
What Killed Miami’s First Doctor?
At first he thought it was the ice collars. When Dr. James Jackson developed breathing trouble in 1923, he didn’t think much about it. He had long been in the practice of wearing an ice collar in the operating room to stay cool in the Miami heat. He brushed his symptoms off as pneumonia. Dr. […]
Carson Valley Civil War Vet
Chambers Lane, a rural road at the southern end of Carson Valley, is just a place name these days. But it once was an early Alpine County homestead, owned by Civil War veteran Thomas Armstrong Chambers. Born in St. Lawrence, New York in 1837, Chambers (like so many young men) became swept up in the […]
Key in the Tree
You gotta love it when you stumble across a mystery. Especially two mysteries in one day. On a recent drive up Highway 4 we found an old key, firmly embedded in the trunk of a tree. Just a guess, but it’s probably been there at least 50 years — long enough for the tree to almost […]
Markleeville: Ghost in the Admin Building?
There’ve been a few ghostly rumors about the county Administration building in Markleeville. Today’s parking lot once was the site of an old house, built by Alvin Grover around 1899. Even back then Grover’s house wasn’t exactly new; it was constructed from lumber from an old schoolhouse that used to sit in the abandoned mining town […]
Fiddletown Ghost
If this eerie Victorian doesn’t have a ghost, it should. Now tantalizingly rundown, this hauntingly beautiful Gothic Revival home was built in the gold rush town of Fiddletown around 1861. No one seems to know who originally owned the house, but in later years it belonged to miner Isaac Cooper — a man with a […]
Grapes
Our journey into vineyard-dom began just a week ago. A dozen baby grapevines finally made it out of the greenhouse and into the soil. And boy, were they ready! So were the bunny rabbits, unfortunately. Most of the lower leaves disappeared that very first night as bunny salad. A quick trip to the hardware store […]
High Mountain Gardening
When gardening is an addiction, no expanse of perfectly-manicured green lawn is ever large enough. Yet another reason for expanding the greenbelt: fresh edges for new flower beds. As you can see, projects like this call for certain must-have gardening equipment. A mini-tiller to make short work of digging trenches. A handy roll-around metal tool tray to keep those sprinkler parts organized and […]