The backyard of Berthoud’s Little Thompson Valley Pioneer Museum is getting

a facelift. The museum grounds or “backyard” covers part of three city lots and is surrounded by a complex of six historic buildings that include Elmer Carlson’s automotive repair

shop (1940), the Meadow Hollow country school (1916), a replica of banker John Bunyan’s backyard observatory (1933), Charles Meining’s Homestead Cabin (1874), A.G. Bimson’s barn (1902), and Bimson’s stone black-smith shop

(1893). By next spring the pleas-ant plaza will be filled with trees and flower beds, a surface of paving stones that memorialize businesses, friends and family members and sev-eral features that include benches, school bell gazebo, arbor and outdoor stage. When completed next spring the improvements will enhance the use of the museum’s backyard that already attracts tours of students from local schools, stargazers and summer day-campers.

When the Berthoud Historical Society was formed in 1977 the first order of business was to obtain a site for a museum. The stone building that blacksmith Bimson constructed on East Mountain Avenue in 1893 was purchased by a group of local citi-zens who set about collecting artifacts and photographs to display in the his-toric structure. From that point for-ward the area behind Bimson’s Stone Shop at 228 Mountain Ave. became a repository for horse-drawn farm im-plements that were collected from so-ciety members, including Bob Turner. The great-grandson of Berthoud town founder Peter Turner, Bob also served as the superintendent of the Thompson Valley School District and became the namesake of Berthoud’s Turner Middle School.

The number of implements collect-ed by Turner and his cronies totaled more than 40 by the year 2000 when Dr. R.B. Fickel employed local crafts-man John Goreski to build a replica of banker John Bunyan’s observatory in the museum’s backyard. The con-struction of the observatory prompted the relocation of the farm machinery to a remote site where it continues to be stored. When the current mu-seum backyard project is completed there will be an area where a smaller number of farm implements will be returned to the museum grounds for display on a rotational basis.

Soon after the Bunyan Observatory was under construc-

tion the barn that Bimson had built in 1902 was given to the Berthoud Historical Society by Wayside Inn owner Fred Peterson. Peterson wanted the structure removed so he could construct a garage in the loca-tion where the barn sat behind his home. After the barn was lifted from its stone foundation at 405 Bimson Ave., the structure was wheeled to the Little Thompson Valley Pioneer Museum where it was lowered into place behind Bimson’s stone black-smith shop. Bimson originally built the barn to serve as a residence for his family while their residence was being constructed.

In 2005 the Meadow Hollow School building that once sat in the valley, now inundated by Carter Lake, was moved from Roy Hunter’s ranch west of Loveland to the museum backyard. Hunter obtained the school after it was removed from the lake site and moved it to his ranch where he used it as a tack shed. The renovated school now serves as an exhibit and the setting for annual summer his-tory day camps.

The homestead cabin that Meining erected on the banks of Little Thompson creek southwest of Berthoud in 1874 was relocated to the museum’s backyard in 2011-12. An iconic structure of the sodbuster era, Meining’s cabin is in the process of being furnished with period-appro-priate furniture and artifacts that would have been in use by Meining

and his family from 1874 to 1895. The Flatirons and Longs Peak chap-ters of Questers provided substantial financial support for the relocation of the cabin that only a few years ago sat on the rural property of Gary and Julie Moon.

After nearly 15 years of contin-ued effort, the backyard of the Little Thompson Valley Pioneer Museum is ready for a transformation. In late August a crew from Quality Concrete

removed the asphalt that once cov-ered the area to prepare it for flower beds, trees and a surface of inscribed pavers that will record the names of individuals, families and businesses that have ties to the Berthoud com-munity.

For more information visit the Pioneer Museum at 224 Mountain Ave. or call the museum at 970-532-2147.

Berthoud Weekly Surveyor September 12, 2013 Page 5

A LOOK AT BERTHOUD

The historical society and Mark French are interested in obtaining and copying old photos from Berthoud’s past. Please contact Mark at 532-2147 if you have any photos you would like to share.

Surveyor Columnist

Mark French

Little Thompson Valley Pioneer Museum gets facelift

Larimer county news and notesSpecial to the Surveyor

4th Annual Patriot Picnic and Veterans Education Fair

The Larimer County Veterans Service office is helping to organize the 4th An-nual Patriot Picnic and Veterans Educa-tion Fair for Sunday, Sept. 15, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at Spring Canyon Park, Veterans’ Plaza, 2626 W. Horsetooth Road, Fort Collins.

The picnic features booths representing groups such as the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), American Legion, Coast Guard, Marine Corps League, American Military Fam-ily, Daughters of the American Revolu-tion, Veterans Memorial Plaza. This year several educational institutions such as CSU, FRCC, Aims, UNC, and Regis, are participating to inform veterans of educational benefits that may be available to them.

County collaboration offers class on how to prepare to care for a loved one

Larimer County Office on Aging, in collaboration with AARP and Elder Care Network of Northern Colorado, is presenting a free program to provide much needed guidance to people who help care for older relatives or friends. If you are calling your mom every day to check on her, setting up your husband’s medications, or driving a neighbor to appointments; then this program will be beneficial to you.

In Larimer County alone, there is an estimated 59,000 people providing help to older relatives or people with disabili-ties during the year. In fact, about 80 percent of care given to older adults is provided by family members. However, research shows that only 19 percent of family members who are actively caring for a loved one recognize themselves as a caregiver. In other words, they do not ‘self-identify’.

This lack of identification may pre-vent them from looking for resources

that may be of help to them in providing care to their loved ones. Without sup-port, caregivers are more likely to have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, depression and stress-related conditions.

Please join others for a program which will help you find resources and support for yourself or someone you know. It will be offered on Thursday, Sept. 19, 1:30 – 2:30, Council Tree Library Community Room, 2733 Council Tree Ave., Ft. Collins. There is no cost

or reservation required to attend.

For more information, contact Lynette McGowan, Caregiver Support Coor-dinator, Larimer County Office on Aging, (970) 498-7758, lmcgowan@larimer.

org.Health care reform and what it

means for seniorsTo help clarify just how the Affordable

Care Act will impact older adults, the Larimer County Office on Aging is pre-senting “Health Care Reform and What it Means for Seniors” in an open forum on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at the Fort Collins Senior Center, 1200 Raintree Drive, Fort Collins. The event focus will be to dispel misinformation and help guide attendees through the maze of information about health care reform. An expert from the Bell Policy Center will provide factual information and answer questions.

The free forum will be held from 3:30 – 5 p.m. Pre-registration is required by Sept. 20. Call 970-498-7751 to register.

Larimer County Commissioners to hold hearing on marijuana policy

The Board of Larimer County Com-missioners will hold a public hearing on Monday, Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m. concerning adoption of: licensure of retail mari-juana (licensing); and, Land Use Code (zoning regulations) amendments for retail marijuana establishments in the unincorporated area of Larimer County. The hearing takes place in the first floor Hearing Room, Larimer County Courthouse Offices Building, 200 W. Oak Street, Fort Collins. The Board of County Commissioners agenda will be posted at www.larimer.org/boards/minutes/bc-cluagenda.htm approximately one week before the hearing.

Photo by Mark FrenchAn operator removes asphalt from The Little Thompson Valley Pioneer Muse-um’s backyard. The museum is renovating the area to include more attractions.

Public Star Night By Meinte Veldhuis, president Little Thompson Science Foundation

Drs. Irene and Steve Little of Estes Park will present “A Visit to the World’s Largest Telescope” on Friday, Sept. 20 from 7:30-11 p.m. at the Little Thompson Observatory located at Berthoud High School.

In March, Steve and Irene Little were able to visit the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) located at 10,400 feet elevation on Mt. Graham in Arizona. The telescope employs two mirrors of 8.4 meter (27.5 feet) size in a single mount within a gigantic dome. The effective size of the light-collecting area of the assem-bly is 11.8 meters, surpassing either of the Keck Observatory’s two separately mounted 10-meter mirrors.

According to the Littles, the scale of the LBT is overwhelming, as will be seen from photographs taken during their visit.

They were also able to visit the University of Ari-zona Mirror Lab in March. This mirror-casting lab uses a rotating furnace to cast and polish mirrors up to 8.4 meters in diameter. They were able to see and photograph several mirrors in production for future telescope projects which will dwarf even the LBT.

The Littles have been involved in teaching astronomy to undergradu-ates at a variety of institu-tions for over 30 years. Stephen received his Ph.D. from UCLA and Irene from Indiana University. Both have taught astronomy courses at CU, including a course on ancient astronomies. Irene and Stephen have published numerous sci-entific papers dealing with the evolution of stars and are currently interested in research in archeo-astronomy (astronomy

of ancient cultures). They remain inter-ested in astronomy outreach through seminars for the Rocky Mountain Nature

Association and in the adult education program of the Estes Park school system

Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celes-tial objects.

Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when the observatory is closed for annual mainte-nance). No reservations are necessary for these

nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO website at: www.starkids.org

Public Star Nights at the Pioneer Mu-seum, 224 Mountain Ave. in Berthoud, home of the historical six-inch Brashear Refractor from John Bunyan, are held on the first Friday of each month. If you have any questions, please call the Bun-yan observatory information line at 970-532-2147 or check the museum website at: www.berthoudhistoricalsociety.org/bunyan.htm.