SEQUIM MUSEUM & ARTS is one of Washington State's preeminent historical, cultural, and community institutions since its founding in 1950. On the desk of the clerk at Sequim town hall, locals left bones, old tools and other antiquities forming a collection that became what was to become Sequim Museum. the Museum has advanced its regional mission to collect, preserve, and display artifacts and information about human and natural history through a wide-ranging program of research, education, and exhibition. The museum is renowned for its local exhibitions and historical collections, which portray a panorama of the area's diverse economic, cultural, and social development. Designated a
BLUE STAR MUSEUM by the National Endowment for the Arts, the museum is acclaimed the finest community-supported museum of its kind in western Washington and featured by
AMERICAN CRUISE LINES
as a sight-seeing tour to passengers visiting nearby Port Angeles.
The institution's all-volunteer-staff maintain a captivating collection of exhibits and displays that chronicle the history of the Sequim and Dungeness areas in a 6,000 sq. foot
"RED BARN"
across the street from the Sequim District School . Completed in 2019, at 544 N. Sequim Avenue, the facility bears the honor of being the only museum built in Clallam County in over 40 years.
One of the museum’s monumental artifacts is
OLD DUNGENESS SCHOOLHOUSE, a National Registered Historical place located five miles north of the museum at 2781 Towne Road. Built in 1892 next to the Dungeness River, the stately two-story structure represents the best example of a
BELL-TOWERED
schoolhouse in the county and is available for rental and guided tours.
Private donations enable the museum to document and preserve the history of the indigenous residents and Pioneers in the Sequim-Dungeness community with a variety of delightful displays, artifacts, and exhibits. These include
13,800-year-old Mastodon tusks and bones, a
1907 REO (Oldsmobile) automobile, a 1908 horse drawn buggy, and a
1936 AUTOCAR Cab-Over-Engine truck (the oldest motor vehicle brand in the Western Hemisphere). In the
Journey Through Time exhibit, visitors take a historical stroll through Sequim Prairie as the area was called by pioneers. The exhibit, created by former museum director Katherine Vollenweider, outlines the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal settlement, early Spanish-English exploration, and subsequent shipping, fishing, logging, railroading, irrigation, and agricultural histories.
"The Boys In the Boat"
exhibit, named after Daniel James Brown’s bestselling book and 2023 Hollywood movie directed by George Clooney, honors Sequim's
Joe Rantz, one of the nine University of Washington
Gold Medalist rowers at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. The exhibit features film footage of the boat race, the original radio broadcast, and a life-size cutout of the UW rowing team. Also displayed are 42-foot and 60-foot Western Red Cedar racing shells with two 14-pound, 12-foot rowing oars made by George Pocock, the famed craftsman who created all of them inside the UW Crew House. An equally unique artifact is an exceedingly rare 1936 Olympics souvenir book printed in German which was discovered hidden in the castle walls of the 13th century Chateau de Mussel in France!
Another exhibit honors
Sequim resident Matt Dryke,
the skeet shooter Gold Medalist in the 1984 Summer Olympics,
who also won gold medals at the 1983 and 1987 Pan American Games, and two World and nine U.S. championships with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit.
The museum's dedicated volunteers and supporters sponsor and participate in a medley of events, activities, and programs including history presentations, a Tractor Parade, art exhibitions in the museum's
Judith McInnes Tozzer Art Gallery, and annual Sequim Irrigation Festival, Washington State's oldest community festival.
The ADMISSION-FREE
museum is currently open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4pm.
Call 1-360-681-2257 or visit www.SequimMuseum.com for seasonal changes.
