Spring cleaning - with a dash of history for good measure

We are off and running at the Dayton Museum. The Saturday morning lectures for the docents are attended with lots of interest.

The public is invited to come listen if you like. The time is 11 a.m. Saturday and each week we will be covering a new subject. Last year we found that later into the summer we had to stop because of vacations.

However, this year our ranks have grown to a place where we should be able to find enough new subjects to lecture all summer long.

We're going to have our first field trip in early March to Saint Mary's of the Mountain in Virginia City. We are planning a few field trips and if you are interested in our itinerary call the phone numbers at the end of this article.

We now have a monthly docent newsletter that lists the events of the coming month. It also will report on all that we have done.

The Dayton Museum docents have been very busy rearranging the displays in the museum. They have improved the continuity of the history shown in each display as well as clean up some of the dust that only our Nevada wind can create. Our costume closet is up and running, too.

Now when we are called upon to recreate the days of old, we can do it in costume. If you have any antique clothing to donate, give us a call.

Each of our docents has adopted a person from Dayton history to portray. They have taken the time to research the character so they can tell the public a personal story of who they are and their place in history. I must say that they are pretty convincing and they are having a good time doing it. It brings out a little ham in all of them.

We are doing a lot of new things at the Dayton Museum and expanding our horizons to make history interesting to you folks. If you haven't been to the Dayton Museum, give us a try. Dayton and the museum are worth a visit. We will do our best to relate the history of the area to you so you will be better informed about how it all started here in Nevada.

The Dayton Museum is located on Shady Lane and Logan in Old Town Dayton. The Web site is daytonnvhistory.org. Group tours are available. Call 246-5543, 246-0462 or 246-0441

• Ruby McFarland has lived in Dayton since October 1987, she serves as a board member of the Dayton historical society and a docent at the museum.