544 N Sequim Ave

Sequim, WA 98382

SequimMuseum@Olypen.com

Sequim Museum & Arts

 Executive Director Judith Reandeau Stipe
 Director@SequimMuseum.com
544 N Sequim Ave
360-681-2257 


OPEN

11am-4pm Wednesday Thru Saturday

&

First Friday Art Walk 5-8pm




 November Display Featuring:

Fiber Arts

                                         

Explore the 19th Annual North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival "Sublime Marvel – Splendor, Enterprise, & Awe". Many fiber artists and fiber arts advocates have displayed their passion and artistry. Artists include Lora Armstrong, Aaron Asselin, Renne Emiko Brock, Jordan Carter, Caroline Evergreen, Liisa Fagerlund, Mary Lou Giacomelli, Lynn Gilles, Jennifer Harris, Estelle Jackson, Connie McGuire, Robin Nelson, Sew `n Sews, Marla Varner, Prabha Werner, and Jean Wyatt.



Use the Donate Button below to make a payment. Then, select "Add special instructions to seller" Membership, Rental, Donation or other comment. Thank You!



Take a 3D Virtual Tour of the Museum. Courtesy of George Singletary-MatterPort.com


       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.



                                2024 Honored Pioneers           Photos provided by Paul Muncey

        Janice & Gary Smith                   Shirley Tjemsland                   Al Easterly



Volunteers move our 60 foot Pocock rowing shell into the Museum under the direction of Dr. Peter Becker

Photos provided by  Paul Muncey



 Bordering Dungeness Bay along the Dungeness River five miles north of Sequim at Towne and Anderson crossroads, stands a picturesque two-story building with a distinctive red-roofed bell tower. This is the historic "Old" Dungeness Schoolhouse which was built in 1892, expanded in 1921, and served the community for 63 years until 1955.

Surrounded by farmland, Dungeness Schoolhouse is not only an historic site and architectural landmark, but a useful community treasure complete with a working school bell. The building was 36 feet by 48 feet, two stories, with a belfry. The second wing was added later in 1921, and the school operated until 1955. The Schoolhouse belfry contains the original bell, restored  by Dick Bekkevar in 2008.  

The schoolhouse is historically significant for its architecture and association with education in Clallam County. Costing $1,675, it was the largest and most expensive rural school built in the county at the time, and the only one to offer classes from first grade through high school. Today, it is the most important surviving structure associated with community life of the Dungeness area, also representing the finest existing example of a two-story frame schoolhouse in the county.

Registration Form prepared February 1, 1988 by Leonard T. Garfield and Shirley Hill, Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Olympia, WA.


Rental Agreement & Pricing
 Thanks to their efforts the schoolhouse was designated a Washington State Historic Place in 1971, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. 
This information was compiled from the National Register of Historic Places by Katherine Vollenweider & John Majors.
Volunteers are always welcome and donations are highly appreciated.   
The first floor classroom can accommodate up to 30 guests. The second story auditorium with stage can  accommodate up to 90 guests. Wi-Fi, Tables and chairs are provided. Rentals can be one-time or long-term basis.  Schedule a tour or rent the facility for receptions, meetings, musicals, weddings, reunions, or your special event. Located at 2781 Towne Rd, the Schoolhouse is owned & operated by volunteers of the Sequim Museum & Arts.
Current Monthly Schoolhouse Renters:
  • Puget Sound Electrical (PSEJATC)
  • Maple Wood Educational Learning 
  • Sequim Table Tennis
  • Sequim Ballroom Dancers
Trailer Space Rental is Now available at a low cost to help with the maintenance of the Historic Schoolhouse. 
                         Rental information email
                      SequimMuseum@olypen.com   
Take a 3D Virtual Tour of the Dungeness Schoolhouse Courtesy of George Singletary - Matterport.com

To complete the new Exhibit "JOURNEY THROUGH TIME", Grant funding has been provided by Humanities Washington and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) approved by the U.S.

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