Museums and Graveyards

Very old cemetery with wooden headstone in Dayton NV

Old Jail circa mid 1800's in Genoa NV (No that's not Jack in the bed)

Visited Genoa (pronounced Juh no uh) and Dayton today. Both claim to be the first and oldest settlement in Nevada. Genoa was originally called Mormon Station and after the Mormons moved on an Italian immigrant settled there and renamed it Genoa. Genoa has a great museum with a jail cell,courtroom,blacksmith, and several displays of mid 1800 type kitchens and parlors. It was a very well done museum and one of the most interesting I have seen.

On to Dayton where the states oldest cemetery stands on a hill outside of town  in the sagebrush. The picture of the grave above shows an old wooden headstone surrounded by a rickety wooden fence. There were many young people buried here....some just babies and teens. Some of the plots date back to  the1850's and 1860's.

I have always been interested in the pioneer movement westward  in the 1800's.  I've read a fair number of books describing the migration. Between 1841 and 1869 over 250,000 emigrants headed west from Missouri to California. The main route was through Nevada on the California Trail. Interstate 80 runs over a good portion of the original trail but in some spots you can still see the ruts from the "prairie schooners" (covered wagons). The trail was rough and the wagons had wooden wheels...no shock absorbers.. Sometimes the emigrants ran out of food and water, got sick, left valuables behind on the trail to lighten the loads etc. It must have been a gruelling trip and I'm surprised anyone survived it. Someday I would like to retrace one of the Overland trails....either the California or Oregon Trail from Independence Missouri to the Pacific in the comfort of an airconditioned vehicle of course!