January 15th, 2012 at 2:00 PM
Join us at the museum for the official opening of the new historic photograph exhibit Crannell: A Company Town 1906-1969. Curator Tom Sharp will give a short introduction to the exhibit and refreshments will be served.

"Enhancing appreciation of our Trinidad Area's rich past" is the Trinidad Museum Society's Trinidad Museum Mission. The Trinidad Museum carries out its mission by collecting, preserving, and interpreting material and information illustrative of the human and natural heritage of California's north coast and by increasing public awareness, appreciation and understanding of the diverse cultural and natural history of the Trinidad region through collections, exhibits, events and educational activities.

Located off Main Street and Patrick's Point Drive at the entry way to the charming coastal village of Trinidad, is a newly rehabilitated circa 1899-1900 Victorian Italianate bungalow. The Sangster-Watkins-Underwood home, donated by the family of Ernie and Gwyneth Susan, descendants of the original owners, was moved from its site near Trinidad State Beach to land donated by Glenn and Janis Saunders in September 2006.

Now the beautifully renovated home, with five exhibit rooms and a display preparation and storage room, will open to the public in 2009. There will be Native American exhibits featuring the redwood canoe carved from one log by Axel Lindgren, exquisite Indian baskets, implements, regalia and a magnificent mural painted by Susan Morton of the old Tsurai Village site above Old Home Beach. Other rooms will feature natural history, historic photographs from the Katie Boyle and Gwyneth Susan collections and a Heritage Room recreating an early twentieth century kitchen.

The Trinidad Museum was founded in 1983 and has been housed in a small, inconspicuous gear shed since then. Splendid collections have been acquired over the years with inadequate space to show all of them properly. Now, there will be room for beautifully displayed acquisitions and interpretative narratives. Trinidad's rich cultural and natural history, with emphasis on Tsurai Village, Yurok traditions, European contact, the Gold Rush, whaling, fishing, shipping, logging, transportation, Trinidad Head light house, and commerce, will be told in a Trinidad home which is an historic exhibit itself.

A native plant garden, vernal pond, and pathways have been nurtured by a dedicated landscaping and garden committee and will surround Trinidad Museum with natural beauty. Later, Trinidad Library and Saunders Park will complete this oasis of learning, reflection, serenity, and beauty.

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