Gold Hill Hotel & Saloon

Lecture Series Continues! "Business and Commerce on the Comstock 1870s to 1890s"
2025-04-17 16:30 - 20:30 UTC
Lecture Series Continues – Thursday, April 17th with Joe Curtis and Ron Gallagher’s – “Business and Commerce on the Comstock 1870s to 1890s”
We are pleased to continue the 2025 Gold Hill Lecture Series!
Dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. and lecture starts at 7:00 p.m.
Description: The Comstock’s own Huxsters of History, the VC Relic AKA Ron Gallagher and Prof. E.P. Stinkwater AKA Joe Curtis, will present on the subject of “Business and Commerce on the Comstock 1870s to 1890s”. A mining town can’t exist without a community to support it. Their intention is to pass on the caretaker duties of the true and relatively accurate history of the Comstock to the next keepers thereof. Come soak up the Comstock history stuck in their heads and become a Comstock History Caretaker.
Bios: Ron Gallagher, was born as a young child and raised on the Comstock. His family worked in, owned and operated businesses in Virginia City from the 1870’s into the 1950’s or so. Ron, contrary to some reports which may be fake news, did not attend the Fourth Ward School as a child. He did, however go to school. A career in teaching and private industry and a passion for the history of “his” community places him in a rare position to have absorbed the history. Ron has researched his family history along with general Comstock history for much of his adult Irish life interspersed with occasional “blarney shots”.
Joe Curtis, younger than Ron, was raised in Carson to about age 14, his parents purchased buildings and opened a Comstock history museum and also dealt in the history and artifacts of Comstock life. Joe grew up and later became the care taker of vast stores of original historical source material which he has spent spare time outside two careers researching and stuffing the information into the space between his ears. It now has to be passed on to the future caretakers of Comstock history while he can remember to do so. He is one of the most passionate purveyors of accurate Comstock history. Don’t look him in the eye or he will talk history to you till you get in your car and drive away.
Lecture starts at 7:00 p.m. and costs $10 per person.
Come early and enjoy dinner before the lecture! We Serve dinner before the lecture at 5, 5:30, & 6 p.m.
Please fill out this reservation form to sign up for this interesting lecture:

Name:

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How many in your party?

Dinner and Lecture or Lecture Only?
Dinner and Lecture
Lecture Only

Dinner Reservation Time
4:30 P.M.
5:00 P.M.
Lecture Only

Lecture Series Continues! Jean-Guy T. Dubé presents "Depots of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad"
2025-07-17 16:30 - 20:00
We are pleased to continue our 2025 Lecture Series!
Thursday, July 17th lecture will be Jean-Guy T. Dubé on: “Depots of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad”
Dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. and lecture starts at 7:00 p.m.
Lecture Description:
Depots of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. When one asks about Nevada’s railroad history, immediately the Virginia & Truckee Railroad is remembered. Beginning with its first spike driven on September 28, 1869, the railroad carried the ore and riches of the Comstock Lode, the lumber and supplies to build Virginia City and its mines, connected to the Central Pacific Railroad’s transcontinental route in Reno, provided service to our state’s capital Carson City. In 1906 the V&T expanded with a branch to connect and ship the agricultural wealth of the Carson Valley from Minden. V&T’s locomotives were stars in movies, passengers gave way to railfans and tourists, riding the rails until its closing day on May 31, 1950. There is much V&T legacy that continues, so grab a free ticket to ride and see the V&T’s depots and wayside structures as we steam down the rails of Nevada history.
Bio of Lecturer:
Jean-Guy T. Dubé works for the State Historic Preservation Office of Nevada as the National and State Register of Historic Places Coordinator. He is a member of the Friends of the Nevada State Railroad Museum, Southern Pacific Historic & Technical Society, the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Historical Society, and many others. Dubé received the national Leicester B. Holland Prize in 2017 from the Library of Congress and National Park Service. He is an author, architectural draftsman and historian. He has studied Southern Pacific depots since 1983 and is the author of Railroad Depots: A Southern Pacific Collection. Mr. Dubé will have copies of his book for sale and signing at the lecture.
Please call or text 775-847-0111 or use the form below to reserve your spot:

Name:

Email Address:

Dinner and Lecture or Lecture only?
Dinner and Lecture
Lecture only

How many in your party?

If you are coming to the Dinner and Lecture, what time would you like to dine with us?
4:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
Lecture only

"Hidden Nevada: Photographs from off the Beaten Track" Lecture and Slide-show
2025-08-07 16:30 - 20:30
Heinz Ranch was built in 1855 by German immigrants Frank and Wilhemina Heinz. Located south of White Lake Playa, the Ranch is in Cold Springs north of Reno, NV and on the California-Nevada border.
We are pleased to continue the 2025 Lecture Series at the Historic Gold Hill Hotel!
Dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. and lecture starts at 7:00 p.m.
Nevada is full of big open landscapes, mountain ranges (it has the most mountain ranges of any state in the Lower 48 with 300 named ranges and 100 unnamed ranges), forests, desert, lakes and rivers, and thousands of miles of off-road trails that take you back into the heart of the state.
Hidden Nevada: Photographs from off the Beaten Track is a portfolio of Dana’s work taken while on the off-road trails. He enjoys exploring until he hits the end of the trail, or until he finds something interesting to photograph. Dana chose to make this series a study in black and white photography to capture the essence of Nevada locations.
Bio:
Dana Garrett was given his first camera at the age of seven after watching his dad develop his photographs in their makeshift darkroom. He then went on to perfect the art of taking fuzzy pictures of his feet.
Fast forward to 1999, 33 years later, he decided to invest more time and energy into the art. Since then, he has had numerous solo art shows in Monterey, CA, received three Honorable Mentions in his first entry in the Monterey County Fair Photography Contest, was a Finalist in 5 consecutive entries in the Black and White Spider Awards, an international photography competition, and has successfully juried into the international art exhibitions Art San Diego, ArtEXPO New York, and Art Santa Fe.
Dana is a retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer who was a Meteorologist/Oceanographer for 30+ years and served on three amphibious Assault ships supporting Marine Corps Expeditionary Units. He currently resides in the Virginia City Highlands outside Reno, NV with his wife of 40 years Kathy, and their two dogs.
Come early and enjoy dinner before the lecture! We Serve dinner before the lecture at 4:30, 5, & 5:30 p.m.
Please call or text 775-847-0111 or fill out this reservation form to sign up for this interesting lecture:

Name:

Email Address:

How many in your party?

Dinner and Lecture or Lecture Only?
Dinner and Lecture
Lecture Only

Dinner Reservation Time
4:30 P.M.
5:00 P.M.
5:30 P.M.
Lecture Only

Lecture Series Continues! Kim Harris Chautauqua Performance as "Mary Perkins Bradbury: Convicted of Witchery"!
2025-09-18 16:30 - 20:30
We are pleased to continue our 2025 Lecture Series!
Thursday, September 18th lecture will be a Chautauqua performance by Kim Harris as “Mary Perkins Bradbury: Convicted of Witchery“
Dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. and lecture starts at 7:00 p.m.
Description:
The Massachusetts village of Salem lost many innocent lives during the infamous witch-hunting era. The same manufactured delusions brought forth at the witch trials preyed upon Mary Perkins Bradbury. She was convicted and sentenced to die on September 9, 1692. In her own words, she will tell of her experiences during the Salem witch hunts, and how she ultimately escaped the gallows.
Bio:
Kim Harris is currently a resident of Genoa, NV and a longtime local to the surrounding Sierra communities. She was born and raised at Donner Lake, CA.
Performing as a character actress and Chautauquan since 2010 via her business “Western History ALIVE!”, Kim regularly portrays several local and national historic figures which include stagecoach driver Charley Parkhurst, Genoa and Nevada suffragist Lillian Virgin Finnegan, frontierswoman Calamity Jane and Libbie Custer, the wife of General George Armstrong Custer.
Kim has also served on the advisory boards of the Lake Tahoe Historical Society and the Douglas County Historical Society. Presently she is the events manager of Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park in Minden, NV and is the president of the Genoa, NV based Friends of Snowshoe Thompson group.
Lecture starts at 7:00 p.m. and costs $10 per person.
Come early and enjoy dinner before the lecture! We Serve dinner before the lecture at 4:30 p.m., 5:00 p.m., & 5:30
Please fill out this reservation form to sign up for this exciting lecture:

Name:

Email Address:

Telephone number in case we need to contact you about your reservation:

Dinner and Lecture or Lecture only?
Lecture Only
Lecture and Dinner

How many in your party?

If you are having dinner with us, what time would you like to dine?
4:30 p.m.
Lecture Only

Jim Clark's "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" - A brand new presentation!
2026-03-12 16:30 - 20:30
2026 Lecture Series Begins – Thursday, March 12th! “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” by Jim Clark!
We are pleased to kick-off the 2026 Lecture Series!
Dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. and lecture starts at 7:00 p.m.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:
Jim is presenting, for the first time at the Gold Hill Hotel, a peak behind the Hollywood curtain. He will be discussing his intimate encounters with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. He always gets asked about the famous people he has worked with, and now he is sharing the details in what is sure to be a (mostly) true account of the Hollywood stars and what it was like to work with them on and off the set. This is sure to a very entertaining and educational evening at the Gold Hill Hotel.
Bio:
He’s back with more movies and insights! Jim Clark is a veteran of over 250 major movies over the many decades.
As an engineer, train coordinator and actor, he’s been killed in movies more times than he can count.
Jim Clark has over thirty-five years of railroad motion picture experience, professionalism, knowledge, script breakdown and development, budget preparation, scout locations, equipment acquisition, transportation, props, set dressing, track construction, liaison with railroad personnel, compliance with Federal regulations, implement and execute a railroad specific safety program.
Provide operating crews, coordinate schedules, obtain track and railroad equipment, assist with special effects and stunt requirements, implement safety programs and more.
Lecture starts at 7:00 p.m. and costs $10 per person.
Come early and enjoy dinner before the lecture! We Serve dinner before the lecture at 4:30, 5, & 5:30 p.m.
Please fill out this reservation form to sign up for this exciting lecture:

Name:

Email Address:

Dinner and Lecture or Lecture only?
Dinner and Lecture
Lecture only

How many in your party?

If you are coming to the Dinner and Lecture, what time would you like to dine with us?
4:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
Lecture only

Lecture Series Continues! Joe Curtis Returns to the Gold Hill!
2026-04-02 16:30 - 20:30
Lecture Series Continues – Thursday, April 2nd with Joe Curtis presenting: Tall Tales of the Comstock!
We are pleased to continue the 2026 Gold Hill Lecture Series!
Dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. and lecture starts at 7:00 p.m.
Description:

Porkies, Yarns, Leg pullers, Tall tales, Whoppers…..BS Story.
April Fools Day was popular every day of the year in the early days of the Comstock and even other mining areas of Nevada.
Join Joe Curtis, and the Gold Hill Hotel as we examine and consider some of the both past and present “tall tales” that circulate around Comstock History.
In the 187s the Sazarac Liars Club was formed in Austin, Nevada. Such groups quickly spread to the Comstock and other mining towns. Gathered around a wood stove in the dead of winter, they would compete amongst themselves to see who could tell the most believable and wild tale.
Humm…maybe there is a plan for such an event on the Comstock in 2027.

Bios:
Joe Curtis, was raised in Carson to about age 14, his parents purchased buildings and opened a Comstock history museum and also dealt in the history and artifacts of Comstock life. Joe grew up and later became the care taker of vast stores of original historical source material which he has spent spare time outside two careers researching and stuffing the information into the space between his ears. It now has to be passed on to the future caretakers of Comstock history while he can remember to do so. He is one of the most passionate purveyors of accurate Comstock history. Don’t look him in the eye or he will talk history to you till you get in your car and drive away.
Lecture starts at 7:00 p.m. and costs $10 per person.
Come early and enjoy dinner before the lecture! We Serve dinner before the lecture at 5, 5:30, & 6 p.m.
Please fill out this reservation form to sign up for this interesting lecture:

Name:

Email Address:

Number of people in your party?

Dinner and Lecture or Lecture Only?
Dinner and Lecture
Lecture Only

What is the time you would like to dine with us?
4:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
Lecture Only

Lecture Series Continues! "Tourism Below Sea Level…the evolution of tourism in Death Valley National Park", by David and Gayle Woodruff
2026-04-16 16:30 - 20:30
Lecture Series Continues – Thursday, April 16th with David and Gayle Woodruff’s “Tourism Below Sea Level…the evolution of tourism in Death Valley National Park“
We are pleased to continue the Gold Hill Hotel Lecture Series!
Dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. and lecture starts at 7:00 p.m.

Join local historians and former residents of Death Valley, David & Gayle Woodruff as the take a light‑hearted look at how one of the hottest, driest, and most “why‑would-anyone-go-there?” places on Earth, became a full‑blown…five-star tourist sensation. With a blend of insider memories, colorful characters, and extensive research the Woodruffs journey from early daredevil motorists and dust‑covered prospectors to luxury resorts, Hollywood escapades, and the unique charm that still defines Death Valley National Park today. It’s a warm, witty and detailed celebration of the people who brought hospitality to a place where even the thermometers need a vacation.

Lecture starts at 7:00 p.m. and costs $10 per person.
Come early and enjoy dinner before the lecture! We Serve dinner before the lecture at 4:30, 5:00, and 5:30.
Please fill out this reservation form to sign up for this exciting lecture:

Name:

Email Address:

Telephone number in case we need to contact you about your reservation:

Dinner and Lecture or Lecture only?
Lecture Only
Lecture and Dinner

How many in your party?

If you are having dinner with us, what time would you like to dine?
4:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
Lecture Only

Kim Harris as “Anne Hutchinson"
2026-05-21 16:30 - 20:30
Kim Harris continues the 2026 Gold Hill Hotel lecture and entertainment series Thursday night May 21st at the Gold Hill Hotel! She will be doing a Chautauqua performance as Anne Hutchinson! Lecture starts at 7 p.m.
Anne Hutchinson:
Anne Hutchinson was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her strong religious formal declaration were at odds with the established Puritan clergy in the Boston area and her popularity and charisma helped create a theological schism that threatened the Puritan religious community in New England. She was eventually tried and convicted, then banished from the colony with many of her supporters.
Kim Harris (Bio):
Kim Harris is an accomplished Chautauquan who has portrayed living history characters at various venues including Genoa Cowboy Festival, Pipers Opera House, the Gold Hill Hotel, Granlibakken, Dangberg Historic Park and The Lake Tahoe Chautauqua Festival.
Harris currently serves as Events and Education Manager at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park in Minden, NV, and is the owner and operator of Western History ALIVE! where she portrays several Chautauqua characters including Julia Bulette, Charley Parkhurst, Libbie Bacon Custer and Lizzie Borden.
Harris was born and raised at Donner Lake, CA growing up immersed in the history of our West. She enjoys not only sharing what she has learned about our history, but continuously learning from those that have lived it themselves.

Lecture starts at 7:00 p.m. and costs $10 per person.
Come early and enjoy dinner before the lecture! We Serve dinner before the lecture at 4:30, 5, & 5:30
Please fill out the form below to register for the event:

Name:

Email Address:

How many in your party?

Dinner and Lecture or Lecture Only?
Dinner and Lecture
Lecture Only

Dinner Reservation Time
4:30 P.M.
5:00 P.M.
5:30 P.M.
Lecture Only

Lecture series continues! Rae Davis - Surgeon Jonathan Letterman, the "Father of Modern Military Medicine"
2026-06-18 16:30 - 20:30
Thursday, June 18th with Surgeon Jonathan Letterman, the “Father of Modern Military Medicine”
We are pleased to continue the 2026 Lecture Series!
Dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. and lecture starts at 7:00 p.m.
Description: Join Mark and Rae Davis for a discussion about the fascinating life and legacy of Civil War Surgeon Jonathan Letterman that earned him the title, “The Father of Modern Military Medicine,” and how his achievements touch our civilian lives each and every day.
Attendees will get to view both reproduction and original Civil War medical instruments, medicines, weaponry, and more! In addition, we will discuss a little bit about our upcoming documentary on Surgeon Letterman. We promise to deliver a highly interesting talk that you won’t want to miss!
Bio: Rae Davis currently resides in Murphys, Ca, with her husband, Mark She grew up in Calaveras County where she raised her two children. She is also grandmother of one.
In 1990 Rae joined the National Civil War Association, a living history group based in Northern California. At the time, the NCWA was the largest combined Civil War reenactment group in the world. For 8 years she taught the public about the medical practices of the Union Army Medical Service and headed up the speaker’s bureau for the organization. After leaving the NCWA in 1998, Rae continued to lecture at various venues for a few more years. She recently retired from the floral industry after 35 years of designing to continue work in the film industry as a producer. Although she doesn’t get to teach others about the medical practices of the Civil War as much as she’d like to, it is never far from her heart and looks forward to continuing her studies of the subject.
Lecture starts at 7:00 p.m. and costs $10 per person.
Come early and enjoy dinner before the lecture! We Serve dinner before the lecture at 4:30, 5, & 5:30 p.m.
Please fill out this reservation form to sign up for this interesting lecture:

Name:

Email Address:

Dinner and Lecture or Lecture only?
Dinner and Lecture
Lecture only

How many in your party?

If you are coming to the Dinner and Lecture, what time would you like to dine with us?
4:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
Lecture only
