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Directions: 65 miles from Las Vegas, the Pahrump Museum is located a scenic one hour and ten minute drive from the Las Vegas Strip. Take Highway NV-160 west. Follow NV-160 through the town to E. Basin Ave. Turn left and drive approximately 1.5 miles, and turn left into the museum property.
Description: The Pahrump Museum officially opened on September 1st 2003. Inside the museum you will find several ales of glass enclosed exhibits (Fig. 02) containing Native American artifacts as well as artifacts from some of Pahrumps first Anglo settlers, prospectors, farmers and ranchers. They also have exhibits with war ephemera, fossils, indigenous animal species and rock/mineral samples. There also is an exhibit on both of Pahrump's wineries. There is a large room containing the "Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository History Exhibit". There are six touch screen monitors and two large screen television monitors that provide viewing presentations on the "Yucca Mountain Project". Hung alongside this extremely informational exhibit are photos from the "National Atomic Testing Museum". The have a small gift store with belt buckles, post cards, Nye County History Books, a book titled, "Waste of a Mountain", items from a local artist and extensive line of gifts and souvenirs, many free publications and much more. Outside there are several outbuildings, bronze sculptures (Fig. 03), a cactus garden and a myriad of farming equipment. Four of the museums outbuildings are furnished and open for you to go inside and enjoy.
08/05/2016 Trip Notes: After a great lunch at Symphony, at the Pahrump Valley Winery, Jim, Bob and I spent more than an hour touring the Pahrump Museum. The museum's curator answered all of our many questions and provided much information about the history of the museum and the town. We learned that back in the late 1800's the town started as a grouping of several cotton ranches that stretched across the valley. Over the years more and more ranchers caused the town to grow, but didn't have electricity until 1963. After perusing the inside, we went outside to tour exhibits on the grounds. First we toured the Raycraft Railroad Tie Cottage (Fig. 04). It was built on the Raycraft ranch in 1947 by Stanley Ford, as a vacation cottage. the building is constructed of railroad ties from the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad (TTRR). Scattered between the various buildings, the grounds displayed many period instruments and machinery used in the farming of cotton (Fig. 05). Next we toured the interior of the old Pahrump Store (Fig. 06). Next was an old one-room schoolhouse (Fig. 07). The little red schoolhouse was originally located in Clay Camp, Amargosa. It was still in use as a school house in 1945 when it was moved to the Pahrump Ranch. At this point, we cut our touring short due to the unbearable 105 degree temperatures, and found our way back to the car. We would like to come back here in the fall when the temperatures would be more comfortable and spend more time roaming the property. Before heading home we then drove to the Sanders Family Winery for yet another "wine tasting" session.
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