26 museum businesses featured on Explore Washington State.
26 businessesThe Cle Elum Telephone Museum at 221 E 1st Street is widely cited as the oldest complete telephone museum west of the Mississippi, covering telephone history from 1876 through 1970. Cle Elum was one of the last cities in the country to operate a manual switchboard. Open Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend noon to 4 PM.
The Clymer Museum of Art on Pearl Street celebrates the western heritage of the Kittitas Valley through the work of painter John Ford Clymer and rotating exhibits. The museum operates in partnership with the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame and the Western Art Association under one roof.
The Foothills Historical Museum keeps Buckley's logging era alive with springboard axes, mill town photographs, and a research library, all free to visit on North River Avenue.
A reconstructed 1830s Hudson's Bay Company trading post in Point Defiance Park where costumed staff demonstrate blacksmithing and frontier life, with two original 1843 structures among the oldest buildings in Washington.
The Greater Bonney Lake Historical Society keeps the plateau's story alive with a small museum and archive near Allan Yorke Park, open to visitors Monday through Wednesday mornings.
The Harbor History Museum preserves Gig Harbor's Croatian and Scandinavian fishing heritage with historic vessels, photographs, and the restored Skansie net shed. Admission is free and the collection includes a 1906 gas boat.
Buckley is home to the Odd Fellows Grand Lodge of Washington, and its museum on Cedar Street preserves lodge regalia, ceremonial costumes, and fraternal history from across the state. Open Tuesday through Thursday from 10 am to 2 pm.
The Jefferson County Historical Society Museum tells the story of Port Townsend through exhibits on Victorian architecture, maritime history, and the region's indigenous cultures.
The Kittitas County Historical Museum on Third Avenue covers the history of the county through exhibits including antique automobiles, artifacts from early Ellensburg businesses, and military history collections. Open Monday through Saturday.
The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum holds more than 9,000 nutcrackers spanning centuries and cultures, all inside a Front Street storefront that takes about 45 minutes to tour.
The largest automotive museum in the United States with more than 350 vehicles on display from the Harold LeMay collection. A must visit Tacoma landmark celebrating American car culture and history.
Ezra Meeker built this 17 room Victorian mansion in 1886, two years before Washington became a state. The Puyallup Historical Society operates it as a museum with some of the best preserved Victorian period rooms in the Pacific Northwest.
The Methow Valley Interpretive Center in Twisp, Washington explores the geology, wildlife, and Indigenous history of the Methow Valley through exhibits, a native plant garden, and a replica 1930s fire lookout tower.
The Museum of Glass celebrates glass art in Tacoma with rotating exhibitions featuring Pacific Northwest artists plus a live Hot Shop where visitors watch molten glass take shape.
Nature's Window houses the Kollmeyer Collection, more than 140 taxidermy species displayed in lifelike dioramas, plus a wildlife art gallery, in a 9,000 square foot museum south of Chelan.
The Port Townsend Marine Science Center hosts a live hydrophone stream from Point Wilson that broadcasts orca vocalizations when the whales are in range of Admiralty Inlet.
The REACH Museum interprets the full arc of mid Columbia history, from the Ice Age floods that carved the Columbia Basin to the Manhattan Project era at Hanford. Open Tuesday through Saturday with Sunday afternoon hours.
The Roslyn Museum documents the coal mining history of Roslyn and the surrounding Kittitas Valley, covering the immigration patterns of the late 1800s and the role of the Northern Pacific Railroad in building the town. Small but well curated, it pairs naturally with a walk through downtown Roslyn.
The SEA Discovery Center is a marine science museum on Poulsbo's waterfront featuring touch tanks, rotating exhibitions, and an up close look at Puget Sound sea life including Moon Jellyfish.
An open air museum off Riverside Avenue preserving the real pioneer history behind Winthrop's frontier facades, including Guy Waring's original 1897 cabin.
The South Cle Elum Depot at 801 Milwaukee Avenue is a restored Milwaukee Road railroad station operated by the Cascade Rail Foundation, housing exhibits on the history of the electrified railroad that once connected the Pacific Northwest. The agent's office features a working telegraph display. Typically open Saturdays noon to 4 PM from May through September.
Tacoma Art Museum is a leading Pacific Northwest art institution with a permanent collection focused on the American West alongside rotating regional and national exhibitions.
The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor tracks the Southern Resident orca pods and posts real time sighting updates that visitors can check before making the drive to Lime Kiln Point.
The state's flagship history museum covers Washington from Coast Salish cultures through the modern era, with a Great Hall train diorama that holds the attention of every visitor regardless of age.
Downtown museum telling the story of the 1931 Pangborn and Herndon transpacific flight, the apple industry that built the valley, and the Indigenous history of the Wenatchi people.
The Westport Maritime Museum covers the maritime history of the outer coast and hosts a Gray Whale Watching event each March for visitors watching the gray whale migration.