East County Historical Society Museum Opening

Oakley may be celebrating just over a decade as a city, but the small East County community is loaded with over 110 years of history. Over the past several years residents and the City of Oakley have been working on creating a museum to keep all of Oakley's history available for everyone to see and remember. Due to budget constraints much those efforts are going slowly. Committee members on the East Contra Costa Historical Society and Museum, however, want to remind Oakley residents that they can find Oakley history at their museum, as well.

"There is lots of interesting memorabilia in the museum and research library," said Linda Mitchell, member of the Historical Society committee and Oakley resident.

This past weekend the East Contra Costa Historical Society and Museum celebrated it's annual Opening Day at their Seller Avenue, Brentwood, location. The museum opens the first Saturday in April and stays open until the last Saturday in October. The museum closes in the winter.

The last Saturday in March the museum has a special day when East County residents are invited to come out for a free barbecue and a tour of the museum. They also host a craft show. Over the past couple of years the Opening Day has offered a theme with redecoration of the inside rooms of the museum. This year the theme was Byron Hot Springs and the group pulled together pieces of their collection that specifically had history related to the Byron Hot Springs and put it in one of the main rooms.

Much of the rooms have really changed since the last time I visited the museum about a decade ago.
Back then several rooms were each themed after of one five local communities. In the Oakley room there were pictures of past residents of Oakley, many dating back to the early 1900s. There were also pieces of furniture and souvenirs donated from Oakley residents.

That has all changed now and the rooms have been redecorated to include all the communities, but themed with children's toys, several different eras of clothing, quilts and photos from throughout the communities of Bethel Island, Brentwood, Byron, Knightsen and Oakley.

"All of the Oakley photos and such are still in the research library," Mitchell said. "We never throw any of it away."

Mitchell said that so much is donated to the museum that it all can't be kept in the house at the same time so the volunteers on the committee try to move items around. Some of the collections in the museum are on loan from long time families of the five communities who want people to get a chance to see the merchandise, but don't want to part with the family memories.

"Also rotating the displays make them more interesting for people who want to come again and again to see the museum," Mitchell said.

Long time volunteer to the Historical Society, Pat Bello was on hand Saturday to show visitors around and talk about the displays. She was especially happy to see two new China head dolls from the mid-1800s that were donated to the museum. The dolls once belonged to Francis Eustis Donner Wilder, who was a surviving member of the famous Donner Party. At one time the dolls were said to belong to the two orphans who survived the Donner Party trek from Nevada to California, and relocated in the East County area. Although Bello believes that the dolls belonged to the children after they settled in the area.

"This is something we can all be interested in seeing," Bello said.

The museum, which is located at 3890 Sellers Avenue, is only open on Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and the third Sunday of each month from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. For those who wish to check out the research library and the collection of photos and newspaper clippings on Oakley the special room is open on Mondays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. To schedule a docent led tour or an appointment contact Pat Bello at the museum at 925-634-8651 or check out the museum's website at www.schoolbell.com/history.