Cabin fever? Kids complaining there’s nothing to do?

Want something a little more substantial than another “Pirates of the Caribbean” DVD to plop the youngsters in front of?

Maybe a ride Upvalley to Calistoga’s little bijou — the Sharpsteen Museum is the remedy. An hour strolling among the displays costs only a donation.

And you could come away knowing a little bit more about Napa Valley’s history than you did when you walked through the museum’s front door.

The Sharpsteen Museum is a chance to absorb some history about Calistoga and Upvalley — all the way from the Wappo Indians to the geothermal hot springs and electric train service to Sam Brannan, founder of the city. Rainy weather can’t even dampen this adventure.

The child-friendly museum, has carpeted booster boxes for pint-sized youngsters to stand on so they can oooh and ahhh at some of the copiously detailed dioramas.

The Sharpsteens

The Sharpsteen Museum was incubated by Ben and Bernice Sharpsteen, who retired to a ranch near Calistoga that had been a part of his grandmother’s family since the 1800s.

Ben Sharpsteen was an Academy Award-winning animator, producer and director for Walt Disney Studios for 30 years — who retired to  Upvalley in the 1960s.

His animation credits include “Fantasia,” Pinocchio” and “Snow White,” to name a few.

Memorabilia of his career — including one of his Oscars, animation drawings and glimpses into the family history of Ben and Bernice Sharpsteen is captured in the Founders Room.

Visitors can then pause and spend some time at a display that showcases  artifacts from the Wappo Indians — ranging from arrow heads, beads, feathers and stone bowels once used for grinding acorns into meal. Many of the artifacts were uncovered in the 1940s and 50s.

Calistoga personalities

What museum would be worth its salt if it didn’t pay homage to its founder?

Meander deeper into the museum and there is a tribute to Sam Brannan — the founder of Calistoga.

A life-like diorama depicts the life of Brannan’s Calistoga Resort — complete with miniature figurines of women carrying parasols along with horse and buggies depicting a typical day before there was indoor plumbing, cars and electricity in the Napa Valley.

Calistoga sprouted up around the resort.

Brannan was a man of many firsts: The first millionaire, first to go bankrupt, first Realtor, state’s first newspaper publisher of the California Star and has been credited with building much of Sacramento and owned huge portions of property in San Francisco.

Brannan made most of his fortune off gold miners who flocked to the Gold Country and Sutter’s Fort when the precious metal was discovered.

Visitors can also get a first-hand look at a restored stagecoach from the 1800s that carried passengers along Toll House Road to Lake County.

There is also a small display on the early 1800s ill-fated Donner Party, some who later settled  around Calistoga after being rescued from the Sierras.

Fans of author Robert Lewis Stevenson, who wrote “Treasure Island” and other classics, will find an exhibit on his brief residency near the Silverado Trail, where he wrote “Silverado Squatters.”

Life in Calistoga

Life in Calistoga circa the 1800s at the Sharpsteen includes:

• A model exhibit of the electric railroad that used to run up and down the Napa Valley.

• Also, an actual working blacksmith shop, in Knights Valley, was reassembled in the museum, along with all the tools of the trade.

• There’s a barn with metal milk cans and a horse buggy with a doctor’s bag on the buckboard.

• Grandma’s kitchen, which is absent of modern day utensils such as a microwave and food processors.

Museum goers will then seamlessly move from the museum into a restored cottage from Calistoga Resort, which was moved and attached to the museum. The wood-frame structure was built in 1862.

Incorporated into the museum complex, the cottage features a multitude of exhibits showing how the early pioneers lived.

All the artifacts in the cottage are heirloom household items belonging to families in the Napa Valley from that simpler era.

As visitors moved down the hallway, each side of the cottage is decorated with donated furniture; a dining room table is set with dinnerware; there are a couple of bedrooms furnished with armoires, bureaus and tables; and against the wall at the opposite end of the cottage is a square grand piano.

As visitors prepare to leave the past behind, they can take a piece of the visit home with them. There is a gift shop near the front door. Some of the items for sale are selected books on California, North Bay, Napa Valley and Calistoga history.