Meyers mural captures Celio family’s heritage
Celio mural at Meek’s in Meyers. Photo/Kathryn Reed
By Kathryn Reed
Capturing the South Shore’s history via murals has been an ongoing endeavor since the 1990s. The last creation was recently installed on the Meek’s building in Meyers.
Called the Celio Family Cattle Drive, it brings to life the annual cattle drive between Lake Valley and the West Slope. In the center is one of the Celio men on horseback. His wife is to the left driving the wagon with their three children. To keep it authentic, chickens and most of their belongings are also in the wagon.
Above the vintage scene are portraits of Charles Guiseppi Celio Jr., Henrietta Celio, George Celio, Carlo Guiseppi Celio, Benjamin Caesar Celio and Frank E. Celio.
The Celio family used to own what is now Meyers, along with thousands of acres in the area. Today 103 acres in the Lake Tahoe Basin are controlled by the Celios.
“This is my final tribute to the pioneering Celio family,” Shirley Taylor told Lake Tahoe News. Taylor used to live at the family ranch. Now her cousin and his wife call the South Upper Truckee area home.
A plaque explaining the significance of the mural and what is going on in the picture will be installed later.
The Celio mural is the last of nine that were part of the Heritage Murals of Lake Tahoe project. This was a joint endeavor by the Lake Tahoe Historical Society and the now defunct South Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce.
John Cerney of Salinas created the mural. Besides being an accomplished muralist, Cerney was chosen because his work can be relocated if need be. The mural is not painted directed on to the building.
The other murals include: the one at the South Lake Tahoe museum, Nepheles courtyard off Ski Run Boulevard, El Dorado Beach at Lakeview Commons, Tahoe Daily Tribune building, Tallac professional building, South Tahoe Refuse transfer station, and U. S. Forest Service Taylor Creek Stream Profile Chamber. The one at Chateau Suites no longer exists.
The goal was to capture a bit of the various aspects of the area. With the Celio mural complete, Tahoe’s pioneers are now represented.
It would be wonderful if this could be supported further at South Shore.
Go back to the 1860’s and recognize the pioneers who built here like WW Lapham at Lakeside and Bijou, Rowland at Al Tahoe then a few years later there was the Hill family and “Starvation” Smith at Lakeside Park and Van Sickle nearby. In the 1890s the Park Family came to town and then by the 1920s it was Globin at Al Tahoe and “Doc” at Stateline, In 1932 the first casino opened (Nevada Club) then followed by dozens run by people like Sahati, Harvey Gross, Bill Harrah, and many more.
Harrah’s already has an outstanding statue memorializing the Pony Express and incorporating this into the “Chateau” development and all along Hwy 50 (Lincoln Highway) would be a tourist attraction taking advantage of the history of the area.
Tahoe Advocate, you have a lot of history you can relate. Have you written a book? We need people like you to help keep the history of Tahoe alive. Do you belong to the LT Historical Society? If not, please consider joining.