Day Trip Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum Vista

The tractor shows are held biannually in June and October and are an excellent way for visitors to experience the museum’s vast collection of antique tools and machinery. Also, on the grounds are the weaving room and a blacksmith workshop, where visitors can watch artisans hard at work.

The weaving exhibit features historic looms from the Civil War era to today’s contemporary technology. It showcases a variety of spinning and weaving artistries, many of which are woven on-site. The barn is open every Saturday and Thursday.

Other unique attractions include the museum’s spacious farmhouse and parlor, which gives visitors a glimpse of the age when domestic living was simpler. The centerpiece of this attraction is a roomy country kitchen used by volunteers to bake fresh bread and cookies in its large old-fashioned oven.

Guests can also relax in the adjoining family entertainment parlor, adorned with turn-of-the-century furnishings and a warm, inviting wood-burning stove.

The parlor also displays numerous skillfully crafted hand-sewn clothing items and craft quilts, many of which are also made onsite—the blacksmith’s shop outside the farmhouse, complete with a working forge.

Also, visitors can learn various farming techniques on the grounds as volunteers demonstrate how different farming equipment operates. But perhaps the best thing is that recurrent guests can watch as the museum’s crops grow, from winter wheat to summer cane, harvested onsite.

Another big draw for guests is the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum’s short-track railroad.

This indoor N’ scale model railroad gallery is open each Saturday from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and includes several exact scale layouts of actual California locations.

Finally, the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum also offer an assortment of enlightening educational programs tailored to a broad range of age groups, including a youth summer camp, K-8 school field trips, and workshops devoted to sewing, spinning, weaving, crafting, blacksmithing, steam engine operation, and furniture upholstery and restoration.