This museum, housed in the  former "Our Saviors First Norwegian Lutheran Church," is operated by…read morevolunteers from the Chehalis Valley Historical Society. They purchased the church building in 1987 for $6000. Over its life, the building has served various church congregations and was once even an antique store. The main focus of the museum is the history of the local timber industry. Another large industry that once existed around Chehalis was dairy, however there are no longer any dairy operations operating in the area. The museum is not large but has many interesting items to view. Be sure to check-out the hand carved wooden "hobo art" frame made without any nails or glue. There is also a old fashioned electric hair perm machine that looks like it could have been used as a torture device. Read the attached story...it certainly did torture women's hair! The lower level of the 1906 church was originally used as a stable by the congregation during services. Today it is used for a rotating museum display as well as a meeting place for the historical society. This little museum is only open on weekends with limited hours. If you're in the area or passing through Montesano, be sure to stop by for a glimpse into the past.

Definitely worth the look around while you're in town. We visited recently on our Maiden Voyage RV…read moretrip and loved it so much, we featured it in our family vlog. Check out the link below if you'd like to see for yourself. https://youtu.be/wH1UPRzh_Ok

We have been here 2 years in a row. The hours say they are open Thursday-Saturday 11 to 3. We…read morearrived around 1 the first time last year. Today, it was 11:20 and again at noon. The website said it was open. It was not. My husband's father was stationed there when it was still a coastgaurd station and he had wanted to show me. Very disappointed. We are from Kansas and only get to Washington once a year.

This museum is definitely worth your while. Tons (literally) of relics from the area. A fascinating…read moretrip back in time. Well worth the (extremely reasonable) price of admission. Owner is very friendly and knowledgeable.

Stopped by the Polson Museum on our way back to Seattle after a road trip along the coast. Cost was…read more$5/person and in all honesty, I would've paid more for the experience we had. I don't know if we just got lucky the day we went but we had the museum to ourselves and towards the middle of our visit the director asked if we had any questions which led to us being given a tour of the place. He truly made it memorable with all of his knowledge. You can tell when someone does their job for the paycheck vs those who love what they do and to me it seemed like Director was truly passionate about the history of the area and each item in the museum. There are many small details throughout the building that make all the difference, for example the homemade doll furniture in the dollhouse upstairs as well as the old spice/seasoning containers in the kitchen cabinet and my favorite- actual Hoquiam and Aberdeen directories from every year. I couldn't believe there were that many Directories still in amazing shape especially seeing how dated they were. He showed us one from 1911 with the Polson family listed! We will visit again whenever we're back in-town to see all of the new updates that are planned for the future! If you love history and the feeling of being transported to the past I think you'd really enjoy this museum.

I have seen a couple of Nirvana documentaries of Kurt Cobain's earlier life that show his childhood…read morewhen he lived in this house. While passing through Aberdeen, I decided to do a mini Nirvana pilgrimage and check out the town that Kurt Cobain grew up in. After spending time at Kurt Cobain Memorial Park near Young Street Bridge, I walked over to his childhood home. The house is just around the corner. It has been refurbished and it is gated off. Someone else currently lives here, so all that you can do is take photos from the sidewalk. Cool historic place to check out, especially if you grew up a Nirvana fan like me. But there is not much else to see or do.

Kurt Cobain was born and grew up in the Washington coast harbor town of Aberdeen WA. This is where…read morehe lived from 1968 to 1984. It was purchased by Lee and Danielle Bacon in 2018 from the Cobain family. They paid $225,000...a bargain considering that the cardigan Cobain wore in 1993 on the set of "MTV Unplugged" sold at auction for $334,000. The Bacons have restored the home to appear as it would have while Cobain lived there. At the time of this review, you cannot go inside, but plans are in the works to make private tours available in the near future. Tours will begin about 1.5 miles away at a soon to be opened Nirvana tribute lounge and gallery cafe as zoning does not allow the home to operate as a traditional museum. It's great to see Aberdeen finally beginning to embrace Cobain's contribution to music history. Fans travel great distances from all around the world to find Cobain's beginnings and pay tribute in the town that helped to shape him. Just a few days prior to writing this review, the Aberdeen City Council unanimously voted to make February 20th (Cobain's birthday) Kurt Cobain Day.

Tucked in Ocean Shores is the Coastal Interpretive Center - there's parking out front and a couple…read morecute spots for pics and to check out pieces of shipwrecks around the building. Admission is $5 ($10 for a family) which sort of appears steep when you drive up but we were really pleasantly surprised by how informative and entertaining the Center is. Kids (1,6,7) enjoyed the taxidermied animals, the kids area, and some of the educational exhibits. Adults liked the exhibits and just wandering around. We lasted here a little over an hour, and I thought the stop was well worth it on our cloudy and wet morning.

11/10 stars if I could. Very family and young kid friendly. The staff was so welcoming, explained…read moreeach exhibit to us, and shared their revamp story. During the Covid Shutdown, they redid and expanded making their center bigger, fun for all ages, and add lots of historical references. Really amazing to walk through, learn about ocean shores, the indigenous tribes of this area, &and the animals of course. My 1 year old son had a ball and didn't want to leave. Extremely affordable too ($10 for 3 adults). Very clean and kept great.

Been up and down this area of the coast from West Port all the way up to Cape Flattery, camping,…read morehouse rentals or what not, and have passed this little museum countless times. Well we finally decided to stop and visit and we were glad we did. It was one of those "why have we never done this before?" kinda moments. It's not big by any stretch, though we were told that they would be expanding in the near future. Will definitely come back once they have. There is no entrance fee, only a sign in book and request for a donation, but it's only a request...that you should definitely donate to. Anyways despite the size, there is much to explore and loads of history about the area that you might or might not have known. It's also a beach comber's haven, the collection of stuff found on the local beaches is super fascinating! The volunteer working there was very knowledgeable and she was able to answer any questions or provide information about anything that was on display or the history of the area. One of the more interesting things to me was the debris that washed up all the way from Japan during the tsunami over a decade ago. They also provide a little gift shop area to bring home any keep sakes or mementos of your visit. So the next time you are on the 109 between Moclips and Pacific Beach and you spot the Museum of the North Beach, stop in and look around. You might even learn something you did not know.

Thoughtful presentation by a history buff who made special accommodations for me to see and learn a…read moreabout the pacific beach region. As a conservationist I was truly amazed.

This is another museum worth seeing in Raymond. It has all kinds of nautical memorabilia, often…read morewith a local flavor. The docent is very friendly and answered a number of questions.

The local museum that reports every fact about local logging, fishing, and sailing…read more The exhibits Fill every inch of the building. Consider that a docent will explain to you The Who, what and how the exhibits tell The store of Raymond and South Bend people lived and worked along the Willapa River. They have a well stocked souvenir store also. You'll want to come back agin when you visit these fine Museums

Just a PSA for people like me who are visiting Aberdeen and think the ship will be where it is…read moremarked on the map. The address is just for the home port of the Lady Washington and it travels around many months out of the year on the West Coast. Don't be like me and drive around the port for 10 minutes looking for a ship that isn't there! You can check https://historicalseaport.org/to see it's current sailing schedule. Would love to see in person one day.

The Lady Washington is a 20th century replica of the original 18th century ship. Chances are that…read moreyou've seen this ship in one of her film appearances: - The Interceptor in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - The Enterprise in Star Trek Generations - Captain Hook's ship on Once Upon a Time While the Star Trek Holodeck Arch is long gone, it was still a thrill to board this tall ship and imagine what nautical travel must have been like in the 18th century when the Lady became the first American ship to make landfall on the West coast of North America & the first American ship to travel to Honolulu and Japan. If you ever get a chance to tour or sail aboard this tall ship do it! "Computer, remove the plank!"

This museum was well planned and the exhibits are detailed and engaging. It helps that the staff…read moreall have been part of this community for 50+ years and we were fortunate to have Lisa on location as she knows everything about every detail of this community. The history of this tribe is inspiring and the art is of best quality I've ever seen. Cheers!!

This was a nice find while visiting the area. The museum is very educational about this Native…read moreAmerican people, their history, and their culture. My children enjoyed seeing many of the different tools that were used for catching fish and holding ceremonies. The architecture is intriguing as it is based on the Thunderbird. The museum and grounds are peaceful, allowing one to reflect on the history and culture of this people. The staff were friendly and the admission was reasonable. Visiting the museum was a great experience.

Interesting history but marred by overly strong messaging about women's suffrage, including a table…read moremanned by the members of the League of Women Voters advising me how to vote on legislative issues. I came for history, not politics.

I'm so glad I did this today! What a huge piece of amazing history. Our guild Kristen was full of…read moreknowledge and you can see her heart through her presentation. She spent over an hour and I could tell she could go on for hours! I'm excited to explore more of that area so rich in Olympia history.