There are three museums here in the Central Sierra that you can visit while you are in the area. They are the
Billy Creek Museum at Huntington Lake, The
Central Sierra Museum at Shaver Lake and the
Eastern Fresno County Museum in Tollhouse.
Each has the same basic premise of operating a historical society and museum for the purpose of preservation and display of the history, antiques, artifacts and historical memorabilia of the Central Sierra foothill and mountain area.
"Museums ought to be the center around which educational institutions should cluster, the storehouse whence they could draw the material examples and illustrations required on the lecture table and in the classroom." -J. Patton 1886
The CSHS Museum of the Central Sierra is located at 42642 Tollhouse Rd. in Shaver Lake CA. Turn right at the Camp Edison Campground entrance. We are on the right side before you arrive at the check-in kiosk.
The volunteers at the Eastern Fresno County Museum work to bring visitors a glimpse of what Auberry, Big Creek, Burrough Valley, Dinkey Creek, Dry Creek, Huntington, Shaver Lake, Tollhouse and Wishon was all about during the pioneer days. At the Tollhouse Museum, located at 33280 Lodge Rd, Tollhouse, on the Sierra High School campus, you wil see artifacts, pictures, maps, books, machinery, clothing and much more.
The Billy Creek Guard Station Museum is located on the shore of Huntington Lake. It is a three building complex loaded with history and interpretive displays ranging from the Monache or Western Mono Native American people and European pioneers, through the development of the hydroelectric project and the mystery surrounding the B-24 that was lost in Huntington Lake in 1943.
Huntington Lake and several other southern Sierra Nevada lakes were man-made as a result of massive building of a hydro-power system that, at the time, was only rivaled by the building of the Panama Canal. The ingenuity and sheer determination of men such as John Eastwood, David Redinger and Henry Huntington brought electrical power to the masses of Southern California.
