Following the death of Harold Tiller, a founding father of Incline Village, Joe Bourdeau established the Tiller Fund to archive and interpret the Tiller collection of memorabilia. Chuck Greene, son of Bonanza television series star Lorne Green, believing that both residents and visitors needed a way to connect o the community through its history, founded the Incline Village and Crystal Bay Histori
cal Society. A planning group was led by museum consultants Michelle Schmitter and Sara Larson of the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society, which created events and exhibits, began recording the stories of the early residents and started collecting memorabilia to preserve and display the community’s unique heritage. More than 100 people came to learn about the community’s many historical eras. A travelling exhibit was created by Laura Ouimet from the Tiller collection with the help of the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society and placed in various locations around the community. The Incline Village and Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau provides offices for the Society. We collaborate with photographers, writers, artists, historians and local regional agencies. We tell the story of our region from the familiar to the grand the unfamiliar to the humble. Future plans include researching and exhibiting the history of the major agencies that have determined our Lakes’ life: the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency which manages our environmental regulations, the US Forest Service which manages over 80% of the basin, the California Tahoe Conservancy and Nevada State park’s Sand Harbor, home of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. A folklore and oral history program is taking shape as we collect the stories and histories of the residents and influential people who shaped and developed and peopled our community. Our long-term goal is to build a museum that will present our rich culture and history in all its various forms.
