Had a great time touring this amazing place. Shawn, our tour guide is so good at her job. This is a very unique opportunity to learn not only about tools and craftsmanship from years gone by, but also on learn more about the Eureka area. Viviana and Eric Hollenbeck were charming and generous with their time. They're genuinely kind folks with fascinating stories. The tour is partially upstairs so those with limited mobility may miss a bit but the majority can be accessed even for those who are wheelchair bound. read more

I was visiting my brother in Eureka last month, and we toured the Blue Ox Millworks and Historic Village. What an amazing place! The village is a collection of buildings relocated from other areas, and they are dedicated to types of craftsmanship. There are SO many areas in the buildings to explore! They have woodworking, ceramics, glassworks, printing, signage, weaving, blacksmithing, and other crafts. The crew even built a replica of the hearse that carried Lincoln's coffin for the memorial trip from DC to Springfield, 150 years later. They also hand-crafted a redwood table for President Clinton's Presidential Library. Because the buildings are working sites, visitors must be careful as they walk through each area. Thankfully, all the walkways are of sturdy recent construction--even the catwalk on the second floor of the main building. Tours are led by knowledgeable guides, and visitors may have the opportunity to see craftsmen at work; on our visit, there was a gentleman working on a sign for a local ballpark. He stopped what he was doing and talked through the process of converting an artist's sketch to a finished, billboard-sized sign. It was fascinating to see! The grounds are lovely and have views of Humboldt Bay from the top of the rise. There are gardens planted in various sites around the village, and it is very pretty in the spring. For a unique experience of immersion into craftworks, I definitely recommend a visit to The Blue Ox! read more

If you're a wooodworking craftsman, homesteader, Victorian architecture lover, or just a curious person, check this place out. I love old tools and Eric seems like he can make ANYTHING. He has every tool to do it! Pretty cool. If you are too narrow minded to look past the saw dust then stay away read more

We became fans of Eric by way of his Magnolia Network show , the Craftsman. So when we planned a trip to CA (from Richmond, Va) we included Eureka and the Blue Ox Millworks in our itinerary. We found Eureka charming and really enjoyed Old Town! But the highlight was the time we spent at Blue Ox! We had the guided tour and I highly recommend it. Our guide was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and a pleasure to spend 90 minutes with. And the story of Eric and his wife Viviana is truly amazing. Yes, they do amazing wood and metal craft (have done work for the White House and so many other historic places) but their contributions to veterans and disadvantaged children are remarkable. After our tour, we had the honor of spending 15-20 minutes with Eric and he is just as he seems. Humble, inquisitive about us......just a wonderful human being. I will never forget my experience today! read more

While I haven't yet done the self guided or guided tour, I plan to go back to partake in it. My husband and I stopped in here for a special event on a Saturday where they had an old Higgins Boat on display that they had persevered after finding it at the bottom of Lake Shasta. It was a family friendly environment, complete with history, and Eric was even there mingling with the crowd, sharing his inspirational knowledge and stories, and having a laugh or three. Just looking at the imites part of the property we had access to that day it was so refreshing and exciting. Loving history and understanding the skills it takes to make all this magic happen is fascinating. I would highly recommend coming through and hanging out for a while on a tour if you can. I plan on going back though tours are only Monday through Friday so I'll have to take an extended lunch break or two. :) Happy to have this gem as part of the living history in our town. read more

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Coughed up $60 for a self-guided tour of a dirty, cobwebbed, run- down firetrap. Looks like it was good about 20-30 years ago but those days are long gone. read more

The Blue Ox is a fascinating place where you can learn about the woodworking techniques used on Victorian buildings like those you can see in Eureka and Ferndale. They have lots of old woodworking machinery, some of which they demonstrate on the tour, and lots more which are used for real work, including a huge 14' wood lathe. There are lots of other crafts covered, including wood finishing, weaving, sign making, blacksmithing, casting, lapidary, glass making and pottery, all housed in the collection of somewhat ramshackle buildings around the site. It's fun to wander around and stumble across neat stuff like an old steam donkey, and the precursors to today's chainsaw. There are also some horses and two cute cats on site! An earlier review slammed the place for being filthy and unsafe. Sure, stuff is covered in wood dust and the floors are uneven, but this is a working museum, aiming to keep crafts alive and educate future generations. As a kid I would have loved to go to this place! read more

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Great tour of his millworks. Super friendly tour guide very knowledgeable regarding woodworking machinery. The owner is the star of The Craftsman on Magnolia channel. Love the history. read more

This place is great if you are interested in how a historical turn of the century mill actually looked and ran. People complaining about a mess have clearly never worked or seen a real mill works in their life...smfh. The work they do with at risk kids is amazing and the place has been visited by everyone from the secretary of the interior to the Clintons. It has some of the oldest working wood working equipment in the world. read more

I absolutely loved the experience! We got to make pens on a lathe. Eric and his wife, Viviana, were so acommodating to our schedule. The old peddle powered wood working machines are amazing. I'm into that sort of thing so I was easily entertained. read more

Though the building might not look like much at first, our tour guide Shawn brought the place to life recounting stories of the founder/owner's property and woodwork. The property and machinery within it is a fascinating piece of history that has been lovingly rehoused and prized. We even met the owner Eric and he told us about his own experience with the logging business. While we took it with our grandparents we would not recommend the tour for those who have difficulty with flights of stairs or uneven terrain. Very glad we stopped and took the tour! read more

What a waste of time and money. We visited The Blue Ox Mill & Museum on June 20th, 2014. It is nothing but a dump that calls themselves a business that opened to the public in hopes of gaining tourist and a quick buck. Their "tour" consists of one woman who knows next to nothing about what she is talking about for the first fifteen minutes. She shows pictures of shotty work the company has done over the years and pumps the owner as if he's some sort of wood working master poet. You do get to see a couple of antique human powered saws, but that's the only thing worth mentioning. After she is done with her dribble, you're sent off on your your to "explore" their disgustingly, filthy, and highly unsafe shop. Throughout certain points in the cobweb and sawdust filled tinderbox they call a museum, they have little print outs giving some little tidbits about woodworking, printing and weaving but even those weren't enough to shake off the feeling that I needed a several tetanus and penicillin shots after leaving. They do not allow smoking on the premises which I would recommend you follow. The place is so disgusting and filled with saw dust, one spark would most likely cause it to explode taking most of the bay with it. This place needs a serious health and safety inspection. I'd give it zero stars if Yelp would allow it but I have been forced to give it one. read more

Just returned from a trip to Eureka area. While there we wanted to check out the advertised tour of this historic Mill Works & School of Traditional Arts. My husband is a woodworker...he remodeled an old victorian we used to live in (over 100 years old) so we both were looking forward to seeing the Blue Ox. Went on their web site and we saw lots of flyers advertising the Blue Ox at tourist spots along our route, quite frankly we were disapointed at what we saw. On arrival we went in and said we'd like a tour...be aware they do not accept plastic for payment...cash only. We had a helpful Blacksmith take us into the main area where they had old lathes, routers, saws...he demonstrated a couple for us. It was fascinating to see how well those machines worked long before Craftsman or electricity. He gave us a brief history and overview and then we were on our own to walk thru at our leisure. This is also a school where they teach reading, writing and crafting to high risk kids. The only thing that we could figure was that since school wasn't in session that they just let the place 'go'. The property is very run down. It is obvious that no care is given to maintain the grounds. I would love to see this place in it's prime. I love the history aspect of this place and the beauty of the work they do. Just think they would do themselves a great service if they devote some effort to fixing up the grounds and exhibits they have. read more

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A little gem of a place. Yes it is very rustic and needs work, but the beauty of what they create is amazing. The programs that teach hands on skills amazing. It was a wonderful couple of hours just walking around and seeing things in process. I purchased a couple of pieces of student work. Happy to know part of the fee goes to the student. read more

Wonderful place to learn how things were made in the late 1800's and early 1900's. A great resource of you ever need wood trim, or a door for a Victorian building. This is the rare place that will duplicate the trim or door. The horses for the carriage ride in the historic downtown reside on the grounds, along with the coach. Their outreach program to teach local youth marketable skills is a great benifit to the community. read more

Eric Hollenbeck is as amazing as it gets and we will definitely be back. After sharing with the locals that we were big art fans and my husband is a fabricator, Blue Ox Mill Works was suggested to us to tour. Conveniently located just off the side of Eureka's historic downtown area, when we arrived to Blue Ox, the gates were closed but the open sign was on. After seeing the outside of the area, we knew we had to get in to see all the great stuff that was happening behind those gates. I called, left a voice mail message, and we carried on about our day back in downtown, adventuring. Eric called us back and said he was back in the area if we were still interested and I explained we were just in downtown but would quickly make our way back. Upon entering, you see animals and cabins but you start your tour in the main building. Eric shared with us the history of several vintage craftsman woodworking machines that he demoed for us. We chatted about historical renovations and architecture and were floored to see the actual size of vintage home embellishments! Eric also shared that he's a school for at-risk kids, as well as military vets, which is a real blessing to be able to share hands-on-skills of fading crafts. We continued our tour to experience their printing press, the apothecary, boat works, the saw mill, molder building, machine shop, blacksmith shop, the kiln, pottery shop, the general store, theater, bunkhouse, cook shack, and finally the animals! Eric has one last ox, Babe, who was enjoying the setting sun, a few horses, super friendly cats, and birds. Eric was a total treat, a great conversationalist and historian, and we can't wait to get back to visit him again to hear more of his works. read more

I read that they offer tours showing the ox pulling the saw equipment. Nowhere online or at the desk is there a posted your price so when we arrived he said: "How about $XX?" My husband paid and once I found out how much I was very disappointed! The location is very run down and the ox are dead. He did tell some interesting stories at the beginning and displayed the original man powered saws but then we were left to wander on our own and there wasn't much to look at. read more

We were so impressed with Blue Ox and all the things they do. The workmanship is fabulous and the staff is so knowledgeable about the equipment. I read the other review and the place is certainly "rustic" but I think that's part of the experience. School had just started so we got to see some of the kids cruising around. We will definitely be back! read more

This really is a genuine old mill, evolved with the times to also become a school for the traditional crafts and a living museum. It's supposed to be dusty! Actually, a lot of work has been going into it - not a trashy place at all. So much history on display there, and of course the horses, cats, fish, birds and colorful people. Close to Old Town and the 101, a must see if you're in Eureka. read more

Totally wonderful, dynamic place! The woodworking caliper and innovations are great. I love going to the May-Day festivals there with music and demos. There is so much to check out, it's really inspiring to see what you can do in a non-digital sense. read more

The Blue Ox Mill tour is a stunning experience. With craftsmanship being so much a dying art, seeing what is being created here by Eric Hollenbeck is truly amazing. The woodworking is just unbelievably special, and far superior to what modern machinery can make today. The place is a gem and I don't know if another place like this even exists. We took the full tour and were blown away. Not only by the incredible antique machinery used to create the works of art in wood, but you get to see experience the blacksmith shop and see firsthand the skill it takes to make the most simple of things we take for granted. The whole experience was a highlight of our west coast trip. Eric and Vivian couldn't be more accommodating. The Blue Ox Mill is a step back in time and something to truly appreciate. read more