KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Hundreds of people came out on Sunday afternoon to peer back into Lake County's pioneer past as the county's newest museum made its official debut.
Following more than a decade of planning, hoping and hard work, the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum had its grand opening Sunday.
The museum is located between Kelseyville and Lower Lake at 9921 Soda Bay Road/Highway 281, near the intersection of Highway 281 and Highway 29, or Kit’s Corner.
The Lake County Historical Society reported that the building was believed to have been constructed round 1856, making it one of the county's oldest buildings. Its use as a stage stop dates from the 1880s.
Sunday was the first time the public was able to tour the inside of the renovated two story building and walk the five-acre grounds.
Community members of all ages – from little children to seniors – and from all areas of the county came out in abundance to see the new museum, look at exhibits that lined its vast new wraparound porch and stop to admire the view of nearby Mt. Konocti, where a 1,520-acre county park is set to open later this year.
Greg Dills, who chairs the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum project, estimated 400 people turned out for the event, which also included displays of classic cars and farm equipment, and live music by Don Coffin and Friends.
Over the more than 120 years the building has been around, it has been a stagecoach stop, hotel, post office, general store, gas station and even a home for boys, according to organizers. Going forward, it will have a new role – that of historical and agricultural center.
The stage stop committee plans to construct on the grounds up to five restored barns that have been donated to the historical society. The barns will house historic farming equipment, agricultural demonstrations, and interpretive and living history exhibits, including a blacksmith shop.
The stage stop originally was located about one mile north at a spot along Highway 29, on land owned by North Coast winegrape grower Andy Beckstoffer.
On July 29, 2007, the building was moved to its new location, with Beckstoffer donating both the building and the land to the county for the new museum complex. For an article and pictures of the 2007 move, see http://lakeconews.com/content/view/1350/919/.
One of Sunday's visitors to the stage stop was Charlotte Baker, who lived in the house in its original location from 1960 to about 1967, during the time that it was part of the S-Bar-S Ranch, owned by Ernest and Polly Kettenhofen. The Kettenhofens owned the ranch from 1960 to 2000.
She remembered working with her husband to clean up the ranch at the Kettenhofens' direction,
Baker said the house was in good condition at the time, though it was big and drafty, and they needed to use a lot of heating oil in the furnace to keep the home warm.
A Greyhound bus used to travel along Highway 29, which ran in front of the house. A peacock that her family kept on the place would stand in the road and not get out of the way for the bus, which would slow down so as not to hit it. One day the bird returned the favor by jumping up on top of the bus and staying there.
Baker – who now lives with her oldest daughter, business woman Shari James – said after her family moved out, the home was used as a bed and breakfast, with the rooms divided up and configured far differently than when she lived there.
During a grand opening ceremony Sunday afternoon, master of ceremonies Rob Brown presented Andy and Betty Beckstoffer with a proclamation thanking them for their donation.
Upon receiving the honor, Andy Beckstoffer joked that he gave the county a “falling down old house” and land not good for winegrape growing, and he ended up getting a plaque for it.
Brown introduced County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, a champion of historic buildings in the county who also worked to advance the stage stop effort.
Cox credited the late Bob Roumiguiere, who had helped start the effort, as well as Brown, and Jackie and Randy Ridgel, the latter two also involved in the Lake County Historical Society leadership.
Thanking the Beckstoffers for their donation, Cox said, “This is something that will benefit Lake County for many, many years.”
Cox also thanked county Deputy Redevelopment Director Eric Seely – formerly a Beckstoffer employee – who has worked on the project throughout, including getting up on the roof of the unfinished building to cover it with tarps during a particularly bad storm a few years ago.
Cox explained that the building had many add-ons over the years, and that it was taken back to its core structure before it was moved to its permanent home.
“This house is an important piece of Lake County history,” said Cox, recalling some of the criticism the county received when it first agreed to take on the project.
“There's always other things to spend money on,” he said.
He credited the Board of Supervisors with visionary leadership for preserving historical monuments like the stage stop as well as purchasing the acreage on Mt. Konocti and protecting other buildings like the Lake County Courthouse Museum and the Lucerne Hotel.
“What an incredible achievement all of this is,” Cox said.
Public Services Director Kim Clymire, another one of the officials Cox had acknowledged for his efforts, said one of the most exciting aspects to creating the museum was that it was a grassroots effort.
Clymire's staff had spent three years working on the project, including overseeing the porch and the parking lot paving.
Part of the Sunday celebration included the formal handoff of the museum to the Lake County Historical Society – which will operate the museum and also be headquartered there – and a ribbon cutting, with Clymire getting to use the ceremonial big scissors.
Dills said after the ceremony that he's working with the US Forest Service to acquire an old two-car garage built in the 1930s which can be used as a building for renovation projects.
The pad for the complex's first barn is being prepared, and Dills said a donation from the Kettenhofen Family Foundation will cover the barn's construction.
The group is still looking for donations of artifacts, furniture and funding.
For the house, they're seeking a bar, writing desk, dining table, chairs and benches, coat rack, wash stand, bookcases, side tables, a wood stove and wood box, small sofa, braided rug, bar mirror, cash register, dishes, liquor bottles, table clothes, and a pitcher and bowl; for the grounds, barns, antique farm equipment, blacksmith tools and horsedrawn vehicles; and for the office, desks and chairs, conference table and chairs, telephone system, fax machine, copy machine, bookcases, file cabinets and supplies.
To donate time, money or items on the wish list, contact Dills at 707-263-4180, Extension 12.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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