Arts & Entertainment Community
Day Tripper: A day (or two) at the museums
It’s just a month or so since the busy holiday season ran its course. And, despite the fact that last week’s deep freeze and ice-covered roads are just a memory, it’s likely that a day trip may not be your first priority right now.
Most of the time I’m more than willing to spend grey winter afternoons on the couch in front of a crackling fire, watching a movie or reading a good book. But every once in a while, stir craziness sets in, and I realize that my sanity depends on getting out of the house for at least a couple of hours.
I doubt that a lengthy road trip is exactly what you have in mind. So, instead of investigating locations several hours away from the Harbor, this month I want to take a look at our four local museums. They are all no more than 20 to 30 minutes away from the center of Gig Harbor, and all provide incredible insights into their community’s history over the past century.
History for free
All four are free for everyday browsing. While they all depend on volunteers and donations for survival, they are also determined to make their exhibits accessible to everyone. That means you don’t have to dedicate a whole day, but can easily visit for an hour or two when the mood strikes, as long as it’s not on a Monday.
Two of them — the Olalla Bay Landing and the Key Peninsula Historical Society Museum — are small facilities replete with local memorabilia. Fox Island Museum is quite a bit larger but still primarily full of historic artifacts. The Harbor History Museum in downtown Gig Harbor is by far the largest of the group and is a mix of history, legacy, and interactive learning.
The information provided here is meant to be an overview of what you’ll find at each. I hope I can entice you to visit all of them at some point. The smallest won’t take you more than an hour or two to see, while you could easily spend at least half a day (or longer) at the other two.
Let’s start with the smallest.
Olalla Bay Market & Landing
Olalla, now a sleepy little village nestled on Colvos Passage just north of the Pierce County line, was once a bustling commercial area supplying the region with goods, services, and workers that arrived by water via the Mosquito Fleet. Prior to Narrows Bridge construction, Olalla was as large as Port Orchard.
Today it is primarily farmland, due in part to the clear cutting that was rampant across the Pacific Northwest in the early 20th century. What used to be lush forest is now fertile farmland.
Al’s, the area’s original butcher shop and grocery store, opened in 1959. Gregg Olsen, a local well-known award-winning author, purchased the store in 2021. One of his many books, “Starvation Heights,” details the story of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard.
This wall in the Olalla Bay Museum memorializes Wilderness Heights. Photo by Mary Williams
She became infamous for imprisoning wealthy patients at her Olalla sanitarium, the Institute for Natural Therapeutics, aka Wilderness Heights. Treatment often included some form of fasting that ultimately lead to death. Hazzard was eventually convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison but was back in Olalla 8 years later with a bigger facility that burned to the ground in 1935. The Washington Secretary of State’s office honored “Starvation Heights” for its contribution to Washington history and culture.
The Olsen family bought Al’s to continue the community market and create a gathering space. Thirty-year residents of Olalla, the Olsens hope to turn the complex into a comfortable place to meet while restoring many of its historic features.
Adjacent to the market itself is the Landing, which is home to the Olalla Historical Society. It’s got to be the smallest museums I’ve ever visited, but perhaps the most fascinating per square foot. It is one little room packed with Olalla memorabilia. Among the things you will find are glass cases full of examples of period advertising, and the story of Starvation Heights.
Olalla Bay Landing.
After spending an hour or so immersed in local history and artifacts, don’t miss the opportunity to grab lunch in the Market. You won’t be disappointed. The Market includes a heated outdoor patio where you can enjoy lunch or a pizza while enjoying an expansive view of the Sound. It also includes an array of unusual souvenirs and gifts that you can purchase to remind you of your visit.
Getting there
Olalla Bay Market & Landing is located where Crescent Valley Road becomes Banner Road in Olalla, approximately 18 miles from downtown Gig Harbor. Take Harborview to Crescent Valley, and about 15 miles later, OBM is on your right. You can’t miss it.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday
Admission: Free
Key Peninsula Historical Society
Back in the day, every community on the Key Peninsula had a meeting hall. The only one left standing today is the Vaughn Library Hall, which is being restored by the Key Peninsula Historical Society.
The Hall has been evolving for more than 100 years. It started out in 1889 as a dance floor, constructed to celebrate Washington statehood. In 1893, walls and a roof were added to create a main facility that could also host the post office, general store and library. Until 1937, the first local high school held graduation ceremonies and other events in the hall.
The entrance to the Key Peninsula Historical Society Museum in Vaughn.
Over time, all of these activities moved into their own buildings, temporarily ending the need for the hall. It was sold to the VanSlyke family, who converted it to a residence. In 2016, Donna Docken, a VanSlyke descendant, donated it to the Key Peninsula Historical Society. KPHS is currently restoring it and plans to preserve its history.
Not far from the library hall, at the Key Peninsula Civic Center building, is the KPHS museum. The society’s website and Facebook page indicate the museum will reopen Feb. 24.
I’m waiting along with you. I’ve not yet been in the actual museum, but from what I’ve heard, it will be worth the wait. I’m eager to see whether the KPHS Museum or the Museum at the Landing is actually the smallest.
In the meantime, you can learn more about the Museum by checking out the KPHS website and Facebook page.
Outside the Key Peninsula Historical Society Museum.
Getting there
The Museum is located at 10710 South Vaughn Road.
Cross the Purdy spit and continue on Highway 302. At the second Highway 302 stoplight (approximately 5 miles from the bridge), turn right and continue on 302 to Wright Bliss Road (3 miles). Turn left on Wright Bliss and proceed for 2 miles. The Vaughn Community Center is on your left, with the History Museum adjacent to it.
Hours: 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Saturday, but closed in January and most of February for renovation and installation of a new exhibit on the roads of the Key Peninsula.
Admission: Donations Appreciated
Fox Island History Museum
The Fox Island Museum commemorates and celebrates life on Fox Island from when Peter Puget first saw it during the Vancouver Expedition in 1792 to current times. The first non-natives settled on Fox Island in 1856.
During construction of the Fox Island Bridge in 1954, a historic Indian canoe was found preserved in the mud and is now displayed at the Fox Island Museum.
The exhibits at the museum primarily depict life on the island over the past century. In addition to the main displays, the grounds include an adjacent garage, the Acheson cabin, and a small barn. There is also a library/bookstore area. Every other year (next in 2025) the museum hosts a vintage book sale.
Check out the old kitchen straight out of grandma’s house. There is also a replica of the original FI post office. One of the rooms I found most interesting was a display of the original presses used to create the first and subsequent Fox Island Newsletters. I can’t imagine having to produce Gig Harbor Now using this equipment!
The museum depicts the lives of some of the better-known residents of the island, including former governor Dixie Lee Ray a longtime island resident Lila Acheson. The story of the Acheson family, her future husband DeWitt Wallace (founder of Reader’s Digest magazine) and their 1908 family cabin that was donated to the FIHS, is fascinating and can be found on the museum website. In 2016, the FIHS helped place the cabin on the Washington State Historic Registry.
Presses and other equipment used to make early Fox Island Newsletters.
Out in the garage area are tractors, the aforementioned canoe, and farming and logging tools. A wall is covered with pulleys that were used to deliver small loads, including livestock, to the island by ferry before the bridge was constructed.
Getting there
Take Wollochet Drive until it bears right onto 40th Street in Artondale. Turn left from 40th Street NW to 70th Ave NW. Continue to the T intersection. Turn right onto Warren Drive. At the Fox Island bridge, bear left. Continue on Island Avenie until it ends at 9th Avenue and turn right. The Fox Island History Museum is on your left just past Kamus Drive behind the fire station.
Hours: 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Admission: By donation
Harbor History Museum
The Harbor History Museum opened at its current location in 2010. Located at 4121 Harborview Drive in downtown Gig Harbor, it is by far the most interactive of our four museums. It serves as a visual timeline of the history of the area we call home and includes in-depth information about some of the most historic events that have happened here.
The outside of the Harbor History Museum on Harborview Drive.
The museum is made up of a combination of permanent and special exhibits. The original primary permanent fixture is Midway’s 1893 Pioneer School, which was reconstructed on-site. It has now been joined by the Shenandoah, a purse seiner donated to the museum by Tony Janovich in 2000. Work to restore it has been underway since 2003, more than 20 years, and was featured in Gig Harbor Now in August 2023.
The entire museum is replete with artifacts, video kiosks, hands-on exhibits, and a small theater. Three to five special exhibits rotate in and out throughout the year to keep the museum interesting. Despite having heard about it for their entire lives, on our most recent visit my family found the many displays, videos, and artifacts about Galloping Gertie, the first Narrows Bridge, to be the most interesting.
People used to use these relics, called phone booths, to make phone calls. The devices did not accept text messages.
To this day, my 6-year-old granddaughter (aka Puppy Girl) is mourning the loss of the dog that went down with the bridge. The littles also had fun looking at the basket weaving exhibit. The upstairs area featured a number of hands-on activities and games that keep them learning and engaged while really not knowing it’s happening.
If you’d like to learn more before you go, check out the website.
Getting there
Find your way down to Harborview Drive. HHM is set back off the street where Harborview Drive intersects with North Harborview Drive across the street from Donkey Creek Park, at 4121 Harborview.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday
Admission: Complimentary
That concludes our local museum overview. I hope you check them all out and have fun doing it. If you know of an unusual museum that I need to visit and tell the world about, please let me know at [email protected]
Day Tripper
Gas prices are sky high, and a night in a hotel is approaching astronomically expensive. So, for the foreseeable future, I imagine many of you are going to find yourselves taking day trips rather than the road trip vacations we’ve grown to love.
This beautiful region in which we live is ripe with opportunities to explore new places, see new things, and learn a little something at the same time. I promise to keep the longest journeys to a one-way distance of under 200 miles. Whether you want to make it an overnight trip, a weekend, or just a very long day trip, we should be able to pull it off.
We will also check out some places that tourists flock to see in our beautiful community but most of us either take for granted or have never heard of. If a staycation is on your horizon, I’m here to help you make the most of it.
I hope you’ll grant me the honor of your virtual company as we travel these roads together. Happy trails!