EL DORADO COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Special Exhibits at the Museum, Virtual Exhibits, Virtual Tours
At the Museum
Do you have a group that would like a specialized tour to learn more about this era and exhibit? We will tailor a tour for you. Click here for museum contact information.
New Virtual Exhibit!
HISTORY OF RAILROADS IN EL DORADO COUNTY
AT PLAY - WINTER IN EL DORADO COUNTY
El Dorado County has long been the destination for fun in the snow - skiing, sledding and skating!
On exhibit at the Museum until April 15 and see the Virtual Exhibit below
Everyday Artifacts Used (and Discarded) by Miners
Artifacts - the things used by miners and then lost or discarded when no longer useful...spoons and knives, boxes and containers, bottles and tools...
On display at the El Dorado County Historical Museum.
BACK TO SCHOOL - A HISTORY OF SCHOOLS IN EL DORADO COUNTY
This permanent exhibit shows photographs and artifacts from the county's one room schools as well as the county's early high schools.
El Dorado County had over 75 one room schoolhouses between the 1850s and the 1950s. These important institutions became the center of communities, providing an education to grades 1 through 8, all in one room by one teacher.
Virtual Tours and Videos
Take a tour of the County Museum with director Mary Cory, or explore the county's history with these virtual tours and videos on YouTube
Virtual Exhibits
Select the exhibits below to experience some of the County's history online, and see a preview of the exhibits available at the El Dorado County Historical Museum!
El Dorado County Historical Museum – opened in 1974, the County Museum’s mission is to preserve and interpret the county’s history. With exhibits, archival and historical research resources, volunteers and several outreach programs, the County Museum helps to keep the county’s history alive.
Prior to the 1950s, one room schoolhouses were scattered throughout El Dorado County. If a community had a least six school-aged children, taxes were collected, a school built, a school board formed, and a teach was hired. These schools were important to the life of the community and in most places, are now part of the past. This virtual exhibit shows just a handful of these buildings and the teachers and students that occupied them.
El Dorado County has long been a destination for fun in the snow!
Frances Barrett grew up in Camino, El Dorado County and trained as a nurse. Six days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Frances joined the US Army Nurses Corps, and was eventually assigned to the China-Burma-India Theater of War, where she flew on the transport planes evacuating wounded. Frances is just one of 15 nurses who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. She retired as a Major after 22 years of active duty, returning to El Dorado County.
El Dorado County's railroad was started as the Sacramento Valley Railroad was extended east from Folsom in 1864. It took another 24 years to finally be completed to Placerville, with five stations built along what was known as the "Placerville Branch."
Hopeful gold rush miners swarmed to the region now known as El Dorado County starting in the summer of 1848, and continued to pour in for the next few years. These miners left behind evidence of their work, artifacts now on display at the El Dorado County Historical Museum in the exhibit "Gold Miners and What Got Left Behind".
Throughout history, there are many influential women who have lived in El Dorado County with important stories to tell.
"Uncle Sam's Advice on 'Flu" is the headline published in the Mountain Democrat on November 16, 1918. The Surgeon General, Rupert Blue is giving familiar advice then as it is now. These are excerpts from the article.
The 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment becoming law was on August 26, 2020. Women in Placerville voted in the 1920 Presidential Election - learn about some of these local women.
In 1920 there were 39 people registered to vote in the Lake Valley District, which encompassed the city of South Lake Tahoe and surrounding areas. 13 of these 39 people were women.
Ever wondered about the Railroad Tracks along the trail in El Dorado County? Here is a virtual exhibit of the First Railroad west of the Mississippi!
A story of railroads in El Dorado County and the work being done today to restore them, preserve them ... and even experience them!
1917-1918 at Home and Abroad
El Dorado County Courthouse – completed in 1912, the County Courthouse stands on Placerville’s historic Main Street. The current building, constructed using the most current methods at the time, replaced the previous courthouse destroyed by a devastating fire in 1910. It underwent extensive rebuilding in the early 1970s and still functions as one of the county’s courthouses.
Lulu Weatherwax – known as a painter, a friend and a resident of Placerville, Lulu was an accomplished artist who specialized in China Painting, an art form popular in the early part of the 20th century. Her paintings, both on china and canvas, are her legacy of a life that we otherwise know very little about.