Orcas Island Historical Museums

Absolutely amazing, if you want to get a sense of the history of Orcas, this is the place! It was free to enter, but they do suggest you donate. The staff members were wonderful, passionate, and knowledgeable. I might come back again just to say hi! I also bought christmas gifts, and some stuff for myself, like a san juan islands scene byway sticker for my car!

A cute little museum outlining the history of orcas Island. It largely talks about settlement on the island. They also have some scavenger hunts for kids. Plan to spend anywhere between 15 to 60 minutes at the museum, depending on your interests.

So many amazing authentic lodges, interesting artifacts, and very helpful descriptions. The staff are so friendly and helpful. Their garden and gift shop are adorable. A must see if you’re on the island!

Great little island museum with lots of good history. Worth a stop but note that days open are limited so plan accordingly.

Interesting look at early settlers/white euro homestead cabins. Minimal info and some displays are not terribly coherent, however the cabins themselves are quite impressive. Good for a local historical museum.

Compact museum with 100+ year old cabins full of artifacts. Lots of great information on Orcas Island history.

Lovely little museum with a lot of interesting history .

Learned a bit of what early island life was like. Great opportunity to see different types of cabins in the area. Really neat place.

For a smaller museum, taking only about 20 minutes to walk through, it is a fantastic museum, showcasing Orcas Island history. The docent that greeted us was friendly and informative, telling us that the museum was at one time six separate one-room residences that were dismantled and rebuilt to make this current museum. Full of many early and late century household items, placard's describing the way of life on the island, and has loads of interesting artifacts, photographs, and materials showing Orcas Island early community and civilization.

This museum is small, but has a rich history. What began as a pioneer family's home displaying artifacts on their front porch has become the island's official museum. The museum showcases mostly photos and documents. They do not charge a fee to enter, but please be generous with your donation which helps maintain the museum. Winter hours are also limited to Wednesday through Saturday from noon till 3pm only.

Great spot to come to get a feel of old town Orcas and great for kids. It's not a large museum so you can see most of it in about 30 minutes. Was greeted warmly at the front desk and had a good experience walking through a few exhibits and seeing artifacts that give a glimpse of the rise of Orcas as an island.

Quick 20 min tour before we left the island, Provided more insight into the settlers. Weird Halloween decor throughout the space but if you can get past that it's interesting how they moved and joined 6 original cabins to create the museum. Museum staff was super friendly.

This was our first stop after getting off the ferry and we're so glad! The museum docent was there to greet us and very helpful and friendly. The museum itself was well-organized (and constructed from the actual original log cabins belonging to older families on the island), incredibly interesting, and well-labeled. Highly recommend!

Fascinating little gem. Stop to read the advertisements, especially Dr Garrett's Red Blood and Nerve Pills which claim to cure "all forms of female weakness...early decay...hunchback and acquired deformities" among about 100 other amusing claims!