Tours
Visitors can explore the grounds and buildings on a self-guided tour with fun and interesting discoveries for both adults and children.
Begin at the Etta Egeland Resource Center where you will be welcomed and introduced to the Museum. Volunteers will start you on your tour and will be glad to answer your questions.
Guided tours can be tailored for special groups and interests. Contact us for further information on fees and schedules.
Farmhouse and Outbuildings
Carriage House
The James King farmhouse was the heart of a late nineteenth-century farmstead that eventually grew to 445 acres of grain, pasturage for sheep and dairy cattle, and extensive pear and apple orchards. This farmhouse was built in 1897 after an earlier cabin had burned.
The interior is furnished with island antiques that provide a vivid picture of daily chores and the interests and leisure activities of local residents.
Milk House
James King family
Storage Building
Visit three of the original farmstead outbuildings. The carriage house features several island buggies, saddles, lanterns, tools and other transportation accessories. The milk house includes some of the essential collecting and processing equipment for the farm’s dairy operation. The stone storage building was designed with thick walls to provide cool storage of fresh produce and other perishables in the days before refrigeration.
The Original San Juan County Jail
The jail was in use until 1971 although it had been declared “insecure, unsafe, unsanitary, and not fit for human habitation” in 1966. A light outside the door to the building indicated, when lit, that a prisoner was in residence.
Today the building houses exhibits on island law enforcement, smuggling, the courthouse, and some especially notorious criminals, notably Blakely Island murderer Richard Straub who was hanged in 1897, the county’s only execution. The jail was moved to the Museum grounds in 1982.
This small two-celled jail was originally located next to the courthouse in central Friday Harbor not far from Friday Harbor’s first school. It was built in 1894 at a cost of $234.50, and the local newspaper assured readers that “a criminal would have a hard time getting out of this ‘Bird Cage.’” Previously prisoners had been held in a jail room at the old courthouse.
The jail had a colorful history. In 1910, for example, as Friday Harbor voted to go “dry,” liquor confiscated by the sheriff and stored in the jail was completely siphoned off when an enterprising individual drilled a hole through the jail wall and directly into the kegs stored there.
Edward Scribner built this cabin on Mitchell Bay on the northwest side of the island in 1891 for his wife Alice and their three children when they moved to the island from Michigan. He constructed it of planks hewn by hand using a broad ax and adze from logs harvested from old growth trees, then still abundant on the island.
Six more children were born in this two-room-with-loft cabin. The family lived here for 12 years , and as the family grew, a small addition and an outside staircase to the loft area were constructed.
The family moved to Friday Harbor in about 1903 and three more children were added to the family there. The family continued to use their old home on Mitchell Bay as a fishing cabin for many years.
The cabin was brought to the Museum grounds and restored in the late 1980s.
The Scribner Cabin
Museum of History and Industry
The large nineteenth-century-style barn houses the Museum of History and Industry, focusing on farming, fishing, logging and lime processing that dominated the early island economy. Exhibits explain the methods, tools, and materials of these industries.
See how a lime kiln operated, learn about salmon fishing techniques, view a giant log-splitter, and discover what crops were raised on the prairies by Coast Salish Indians and settlers. Meet Jim Crook, an islander of many talents.
