The Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum before its opening on July 24, 2011. Courtesy photo.

The Lake County Historical Society is grateful to many selfless and dedicated people who helped us bring about Lake County’s dream: Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum.

In 2001 a vision was born – a showcase museum for Lake County. Thanks to Andy and Betty Beckstoffer, Beckstoffer Vineyards, with the donation of the Ely Stage Stop and five acres to the county of Lake and the historical society, we began.

At this time the original Ely Committee was formed consisting of Rob Brown, District 5 supervisor; Bill Brunetti, business owner; Kim Clymire, Public Services director; Kelly Cox, county administrative officer; Marilyn Holdenried, Kelseyville Business Association and Wildhurst Vineyards; Tony Marchese, past Lake County Historical Society president; Randy and Jackie Ridgel, past historical society officers; Bob Roumiguiere, Lake County vineyard owner and Marin County supervisor (now deceased); Eric Seely, deputy director of redevelopment and Gerry Shaul, Public Works director.

A special thanks to all of you for your hours of dedication over the years.

Major donors are Andy and Betty Beckstoffer for Ely Stage Stop and land; the Kettenhofen Family Foundation for donating $100,000 for the Ely project; the Lake County Wine Alliance 2009 benefits of $4,700; county of Lake Parks Division staff, under direction of Park Superintendent Dana Smalley, restoration of the Ely Stage Stop (a special thank you for almost three years of working on the remodel); Jackson Equipment, donation of equipment and operator for site development; Kelseyville Lumber Co., discount on building materials; Clearlake Lava, donation of sand for barn foundation; Redi-Mix, discount on concrete for barn; Eric Stevenson Construction and crew, pouring the pad for the first display barn; Daren and Derrek Brodnansky, helping pour concrete; Mt. Konocti Growers, donation of storage space for artifacts; T-N-T Storage Kelseyville, donation of storage space for artifacts; California Department of Conservation, Division of Land Resource Protection, funding for project coordination.

Thank you to Lake County Historical Society member and Ely Stage Stop Project Coordinator Greg Dills.

He has worked countless hours, coordinating with the county of Lake to move the Ely Stage Stop to its present home, collecting, hauling, and storing of artifacts in friends’ and neighbors’ barns, and managing the teams to dismantle donated barns.

We will not forget all of you who contributed to the preparation of the open house and donated items, time and services to make the day a huge success.

To name a few: Rob Brown, master of ceremonies; Boy Scouts Troop No. 44, Clearlake, color guard, presentation of flags; Melody Staats, singing the National Anthem; Sea Scouts Ship No. 711, traffic control and parking; People Services Inc., Ilene Dumont and Marty Diesman, shuttle van drivers; Don Coffin, Andi Skelton and Elizabeth Cook, musicians; Lake County Model A’s Car Club, Tom Macomber; Clearlake Car Club, Rex Claytor; EcoArts of Lake County, parasols; Historical Society members, refreshments, merchandise sales and building decorations; Ely Committee, grounds preparation and building decorations; county of Lake inmate crew, grounds preparation; Lake County News, Lake County Record-Bee and Middletown Times Star, publicity and event coverage; MAX Design Studio, development of Ely logo and painted materials; Direct Image Printing, printed materials; Shelden Signs, hand painted sign on building; RAH Signs, event banners; Rainbow Ag, loan of stock tank; Vintage Antiques, loan of quilt and tablecloths; Lake County Chamber of Commerce, scissors and ribbon for ribbon cutting ceremony; donors of goods and services, furnishings, canopies, bunting and chairs; Historic Courthouse Museum, furniture and building décor on loan; Historic Schoolhouse Museum, Dwain Goforth, display and publicity photos; Barbara White, period costume, Laura Lamar and Max Seabaugh, period costume; David and Margaret Rutherford, period costumes; and Ray’s Market, Jeremy Hubbard, produce manager, Rodney Barr, store manager and Scott Gentle, assistant store manager, 200 brown bags for merchandise sold.

To name a few people who worked behind the scenes: Phil Smoley, Lake County Historical Society president; Greg Dills; Syd Stokes; Broc Zoller; Wilda Shock; Marilyn Holdenried; Linda Lake; Debra Sommerfield; Melinda Moranda; Victoria Brandon; Keith Petterson; Chuck March; Kevin Engle; Vonn Fuqua; Jim Bengard; Richard Smith; Michael Smith; Gerry Shaul; Karl Shaul; Vince Gamble; Chuck Villines; Jean Beeson; Bonnie Skee; and many more of the Historical Society members.

As you can see, it has taken an army to get Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum ready for Lake County. Please forgive me if I missed anyone or if I misspelled your name.

We are looking for docent volunteers; if you are interesting in becoming a part of this great dream please call Val Onellion at 707-995-2022.

Once Val gets a team together and trained, we plan to open Ely’s doors for tours during the holidays. Look for an announcement about dates.

Thank you to every one for attending our open house; about 400 visitors came to Ely July 24. We call that a huge success.

Randy Ridgel is a member of the Lake County Historical Society. He lives in Kelseyville, Calif.