Then and now: A 156-year-old hairpin turn
A handwritten note on the back of this photo has an illegible name and says “At ‘U’ turn near Kingsbury Grade Look-Out Point on way to Minden, Nevada 8/1/51.” Photo/Del Laine Collection Lake Tahoe Historical Society
Kingsbury Grade in 1951 was barely one lane wide and entirely unpaved, with treacherous turns. It was closed in winter.
That hairpin turn in the black and white photo has been removed, with its remnants today seen here. Photo/Bill Kingman
Kingsbury Grade on the Carson Valley side was paved and mostly rerouted by the early 1970s.
The original Kingsbury route also has this special history. Photo/Bill Kingman
— Bill Kingman
My mother was born in Fallon in 1919 and I graduated from Churchill County High School in 1961;)….I remember that the ‘locals had keys to the gate at the top of Kingsbury when it was closed during the winter,
Some really good races happened on the old road!
Besides the Winter of 51-52, which was my first visit here, I came back later during the Summer. Much of the old narrow road without guardrails, etc., was intact, and locals knew how to get onto some of the longish sections. I was visiting my cousins here, and they gave me a ride in an old convertible down quite a bit of that road…very scary road it was, too.