The Old Town trolley will be rolling down the streets of Alpine on Sept. 29 for two tours hosted by the Alpine Historical Society.
This marks the society’s first ever, docent narrated trolley tour, starting and ending at the John DeWitt Museum at 2116 Tavern Road. The DeWitt Museum is located inside the historic Dr. Sophrenia Nichols house, built in 1896. It sits alongside the original Alpine schoolhouse as well as the accompanying historic carriage house.
The trolley will stop at more than two dozen sites in Alpine and the Viejas valley, including the historic Town Hall in downtown Alpine, built in 1899. Apart from serving as town hall, the building also served as a stagecoach stop and will once again be a stop on the route through town.
Riders will be able to track the entire route and over two dozen planned stops with their program and map.
Along the route, Alpine Historical Society President Tom Myers and Archivist Carol Morrison will discuss the first peoples in Alpine, the Spanish era, early settlers in the area and the growth, and explore how events of the past influenced development of the town.
“Please wave to us as we go by,” Morrison asked.
Lisa Celeste said that one highlight of the event is a planned stop at Viejas reservation, where Tribal Council Chairman John Christman is scheduled to board the trolley and speak to attendees about the history of the Viejas band of the Kumeyaay nation, one of 12 remaining local bands of Native Americans and their 1,600 acre reservation east of Alpine.
“This is our experimental year and if we get lots of enthusiasm then we’ll do it again in subsequent years,” Celeste said.
Celeste said that credit for booking the Old Town trolley should go to Morrison.
The tour is sold out, however there is a waiting list available for the event. For more information, call Lisa Celeste at (951) 704-8854.
