FRIDAY, November 13, 2026|
Photo – Saratoga Museum – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Saratoga Museum has launched a new scavenger hunt for visitors.
Saratoga Museum Director Justin Horn explained that the activity is designed to encourage guests to engage more closely with the museum’s exhibits.
The scavenger hunt asks visitors to identify Saratoga’s original name. The answer is Warm Springs. In 1884, Fenimore Chatterton renamed the community Saratoga after Saratoga Springs, New York, hoping to draw attention to the area’s mineral hot springs.
Museum Director Justin Horn said another challenge asks participants to decipher a Morse code message.
Visitors who solve all 20 clues will receive a small toy dinosaur. Horn said he may offer larger prizes in the future.
The museum director said he saw firsthand how popular scavenger hunts were with visitors while working as a Wyoming park ranger at Fort Laramie. When he needed an activity for Saratoga middle school students, he drew on that experience and created a similar program for the Saratoga Museum.
Horn said most middle school students complete the scavenger hunt in about an hour.
In addition to the new scavenger hunt, the Saratoga Museum recently enhanced one of its popular exhibits. Thanks to a grant from Bridge Street Bargains, the museum was able to purchase a new cover for its historic sheep wagon, once again allowing visitors to step inside the display.
Director Justin Horn said the museum also installed a carport at the Elva Olson Evans Pavilion with support from a Carbon County School District Two grant. He said the structure provides the museum and its visitors with a covered space protected from rain and snow.
Horn said the Saratoga Museum will close for several weeks in January or February while new carpeting is installed. During that time, museum staff will also rearrange exhibits, giving the facility a refreshed look when it reopens in the spring.
Due to the difficulty of rearranging the exhibits, Horn said the museum does not plan to create any new displays. However, staff will use that time to update some of the museum’s outdated information.
Stop by the Saratoga Museum, located at 104 Constitution Avenue, between noon and 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and test your knowledge with the museum’s new scavenger hunt. And visit the museum again in spring to see all the new changes.
