At 8:45 on a rainy Saturday morning, most Harborites are probably hoping for a few minutes of extra sleep.
But on a particularly wet morning in February, a few people were ready to learn. A blue minivan pulled up to the parking lot at Grays Harbor College and several filed in.
The minivan’s driver, Dave Blum, would spend the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon taking its passengers to museums and historical sites in Aberdeen and Hoquiam. The tour is one of many conducted through Grays Harbor College’s EDventure program, which explores sites around the Twin Harbors.
“The overall goal is to explore the arts, history, culture and natural wonders here in our own back yard,” said Bethany Barnard, Grays Harbor College’s continuing education manager. “We have so much stuff just right here locally that we need to highlight.”
In the past, the tours have taken trips to the Lake Quinault rainforest, the town of Chinook in Pacific County and a wine-and-cheese tour in Lewis County. Cost varies depending on the trip, but includes a meal and the occasional souvenir.
On this rainy Saturday, the first stop was the Aberdeen Mansion, a famous four-story home built in 1905 by lumber baron Edward Hulbert. Joan and Al Waters bought the home in 1997, and now rent rooms for long-term housing.
Joan Waters gave Saturday’s tour, providing detailed history about the Queen Anne Victorian-styled house. Every room, she said, has been redone at least once, sometimes twice. Onlookers remained quiet throughout much of the tour, snapping photos of the furniture and detailed woodwork.
But eventually, the questions came. Waters answered questions about the home’s construction, and disclosed nuances like the maid’s secret stairway from the kitchen, and the bell connected to the foot switch under the kitchen table.
Upstairs, guests exclaimed the size of the master bedroom — one of the five bedrooms large enough to accommodate a king-size bed — and made jokes about using the laundry chute to travel between floors. Originally the home of a lumber baron, Waters was quick to point out the craftsmanship of the wood on the floors, banister and door frames.
After a trip up to the top floor and the house’s original ballroom for a view across the city, the tour came to an end over scones and coffee in the kitchen. As someone who’s been sharing her house with strangers for decades, Waters said she’s loved the experience.
“It’s been a fabulous journey,” she said about owning the house for nearly 20 years. “We feel it’s our obligation to share this house with the community.”
Another trip in the minivan a few blocks east of the mansion ended at the Aberdeen Museum of History, where guests took their own self-guided tours, looking at the city’s historic fire trucks, as well as exhibits on the area’s famous women and an exhibit on the maritime industry.
A self-proclaimed history buff, Ken Ramsdell, 63, from Aberdeen, said he still doesn’t know everything about the area .
“You always learn tidbits,” he said.
The group congregated for lunch at a table inside the museum, where they were treated to gyros from Hoquiam’s Passport Cafe. Museum Director Dann Sears enlightened tour-goers with talks of iconic local families like the Fleets and the Bishops.
Jack Benoun and his wife Kathy made the trek from Frances, a community east of Raymond in Pacific County. Though the couple admit they live off the beaten path, they’ve seen their fair share of travel. They have plans to tour Nevada, Alaska and Missouri later this year. They’re regulars on the EDventure circuit.
“It’s good for us old people,” Jack, 82, said.
Benoun has invested, too, and snapped photos with his high-end Nikon camera throughout the tour.
By 12:30, Blum had driven the group to the Polson Museum in Hoquiam, a 6,500-square-foot historic house built by Arnold Polson in 1924.
The final stop on the tour began with museum Director John Larson providing detailed background on the house’s history, a brief biography on Polson himself and details of what the museum had to offer.
It didn’t take long for some of the museum’s displays to strike a chord with visitors.
“My dad was a logger,” Ramsdell said, looking at a wall-sized map of Grays Harbor as Larson pointed to regions where logging had been in full swing decades ago. “As a kid, I didn’t realize how long he had to drive every day to go to work.”
Larson spent the next hour taking the group through the museum, elaborating from memory on exhibits like a miniature railroad, antique logging equipment and furniture throughout the mansion that had been donated from around the area. The tour came to a close at the museum’s newly constructed railroad camp across the yard from the house, which is meant to eventually display a 100-year-old locomotive.
By 2:30, the guests had arrived back at Grays Harbor College. Blum, the driver, has been driving on EDventure tours for the last two years, and has gone on plenty as a guest.
In that time, he said, they’ve never gotten old.
“I just love these,” Blum said. “My favorite part is the people and the places we go to … places I would never think to go to.”
Kyle Mittan a reporter for the Daily World. Reach him at 360-537-3932 or via email at kmittan@thedailyworld.com. He can be followed on Twitter @KyleMittan.
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