Lewis Army Museum — Attraction in DuPont

Really cool museum. Tricky to access though - it is ON the grounds of Joint Base Lewis-McChord. But the public can still get to it! Two main tips: don't go to the base's vehicle gates, and make sure you note the public parking lot's hours. The museum essentially closes to the general public 30 minutes prior to actually closing, to give the staff time to escort civilians back to their vehicles. To access the museum is free, you just need to follow the parking instructions on their website. There is a small, unmarked side entrance on Dupont-Steilacoom Road, flanked on both sides by barbed wire fence, that provides a gravel road for civilians to follow up towards the museum. At the end of the road is a parking lot, with signs on the fence providing a phone number to call for the museum. Staff picks up the phone, then they come to the fence gate and let you in. There are some restrictions - non-DOD visitors can explore the grounds of the museum but cannot cross any of the roads, and must be escorted to and from the gate. It really isn't very cumbersome, my main trouble was that I followed my GPS to the main base gate, where they swiftly rejected me for not having a DOD ID. They did not mention that there was a parking lot available elsewhere. I had to find that out on my own, and then I had to find the parking lot coming from Tacoma, so not the same way their website assumes visitors will approach. Oh well.

The museum itself is historic, within an old inn. It is manned by soldiers. The main room serves as an exhibit on the building's history as a hotel. A winding exhibit on the left of the building guides visitors through the history of the Army in the Northwest, with cool items like a cannon from the Pig War, General Schwarzkopf's jeep driven on Fort Lewis' grounds, and a 1902 3-inch field gun. There are displays on exploration, the frontier period, each major war, Fort Steilacoom, coastal defense, experimental infantry vehicles, etc. Photography is allowed, no limits on what you can photograph. I spent 30 minutes on the interior exhibits.

The real meat & potatoes of the museum, though, is the outdoor exhibits. You can see them from the highway, and they are extensive. Almost all of the outdoor signage is worn or gone, so there isn't much information to read out there, but there is a helicopter, six tanks (one is even Chinese), three self-propelled guns, ten towed guns (including Soviet and Chinese AAA, and a WWII-era Japanese field gun), three ambulances, four jeeps & utility trucks, a DUKW, a Mule, three experimental vehicles, and eight troop carriers/scout cars. Plus an M51 skysweeper, four missiles/rockets, and a pair of Spanish cannons captured in Manila from 1898! They have a guide/map on their website that I found AFTER visiting, but it would have been sweet to know about beforehand. They may have paper copies, the guy working the desk when I was there was new. Note that the Vehicle Park is very exposed to the sun, and the drink machine behind the museum wouldn't take any of my cards, so it got hot. There's a porta-jon & portable sink station out there though, and permanent air-conditioned bathrooms in the museum. Everything was free except the drink machine. I spent an hour and a half exploring the vehicle park, for a total visit time of two hours.

Hopefully public access, which apparently is relatively new, helps bring in donation support, as some of the vehicles are looking pretty rough from their years in the sun. But if you're in the Dupont/JBLM area, don't miss this. It's a must see, and even though it's visible from the highway, it's kinda a hidden gem because of how tucked away the public parking area is. Highly recommended. Go mid-morning to avoid monring dew on the grass and the...

From the freeway the museum looks like a fine establishment full of historical intrigue, but myself and my boys never got a chance to enter the building, or base.

In order to enter the museum you need to read through the museum's website carefully.

First and foremost you should consider NOT going if you don't have military ID.

If you decide to go you'll need to collect some paper work. You need your Vehicle registration (not the one from 2012 that you forgot to update), proof of insurance ( I get it, I just haven't been in an accident in 25 years or gotten a speeding ticket in 13 years so I've let some vehicle paperwork lapse).

Go to the main gate and enter the visitors center. Don't listen to the sign that says stay in the right lane. The right lane will take you to the guard post main entrance where they'll perform a military like cadence to get you turned around. This includes calling senior guard gate personnel in order to initiate a u turn. Your license is collected, orders are issued, (kids start asking why daddy's in trouble), then the move to turn around where major general stops all traffic for this silly civilian to safely go back from whence they came.

The guard then hands back my Washington State drivers license which according to the Real ID Act isn't considered ID to the Federal Government so the threat of me running doesn't seem all that justified. See their website. Just saying!

Next step is to enter the visitors center. The building is hidden and in the dark between some evergreens. But never the less its there. If you come off I5 you need to take a right hand turn into the visitor center parking lot, or stay in the right lane to experience military efficiency.

The visitors center isn't really a visitors center as it is a civilian processing plant, kinda like the dept of licensing, only more depressing.

Push the ticket machine on the left and proceed to the booth with your number listed above the booth. The nice lady asks for all the paper work you probably didn't think you need unless your in an accident or being issued a ticket.

I'm not saying I shouldn't need proof of insurance or vehicle registration or a valid license. I'm not saying we shouldn't need to get permission to enter a military base, or that Washington State licenes's aren't considered ID. I'm just saying that its only a museum. It might...

After driving by this museum along I-5 at least a hundred times, we finally decided to check it out as it's been on my 15yo son's bucket list for years. As others have said, don't believe Google for driving directions on this one. Just use the easy set of instructions listed on the museum website. And remember- if you don't have base privileges, you need to call when you get there to be escorted across the street to the museum. Our escort soldier was very cordial. It's super easy! And it actually took us forever to even get in the museum because there's so much to see outside- more than is visible from I-5. But be sure to look for the handy-dandy QR code posted outside the vehicle park which gives more info on all the vehicles since a lot of the signage is gone. But once we got inside, it was great.

On the first floor, I really enjoyed learning about how Lewis came to be and about the history of the museum building. And I could have spent even more time upstairs on the second floor. Great displays through all the various conflicts. The museum is a large space and there's lots of room to curate even more exhibits. I would love to have seen some history on the joint bases. But that all takes volunteer effort, time and money. Oh, one thing I really appreciated was the breathing space the docent gave us. Some places, they kind of jump on your when you get in the door which always freaks my kid out, but here, we were able to ask the questions we wanted to ask and just have the space to roam.

As others have said, the gift shop has some really unique items (as someone who frequents museum gift shops often) and the prices are, actually, probably too low. (Don't forget to donate some cash in the bin by the door if you can!) The volunteers are super nice and the museum is run by people who really care about it and it shows. And now I have an even greater appreciation for the...