MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The popular monthly series of Fireside Chats featuring speakers on local history was briefly interrupted by 2017’s October fires, the holidays and changes of personnel.

The series resumes Saturday, Feb. 10, with Middletown librarian Gehlen Palmer as the speaker.

A lifelong resident of Middletown, Palmer can offer an insider’s view of the changes and continuities in Lake County’s most southerly town over the past 50 years or so.

He is expected to offer information about “the McKinley Place,” the first farm developed in south Lake County in 1856 and site of the legendary McKinley Mill which in 1906 started switching gears each evening to produce the first electricity supply in Lake County rather than flour.

Palmer’s McKinley home was lost to the Valley fire, but he anticipates returning to residency there almost immediately.

Palmer can also add to the stories about Mildred Pearson, a much beloved local elementary school teacher, whose collection of early schoolbooks is currently on display at Gibson Museum.

Fireside Chats begin at 3 p.m. the second Saturday of each month.

There is no charge, and guests are invited to come early to view the displays, chat with friends and enjoy light refreshments.

The chats will continue with Kathleen Scavone, longtime local elementary school teacher who worked directly with NASA to teach her students science, scheduled for March 10. The April 14 Chat will feature K. C. Patrick, author of the photo history book Pomos of Lake County.

In an added attraction, Gibson Museum is offering radio broadcasts of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s original 1930s Fireside Chats at lunchtime.

The museum is open to visitors Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon until 4 p.m.

Gibson Museum is located at 21267 Highway 29 across from Middletown Square, the library and senior center.

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