Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum — Attraction in Ilwaco

Unassuming Ilwaco is holding a tremendous amount of compelling history behind it's back that you can walk through and see in this amazing FREE historical museum.

The whole of human inhabitation of the Americans starts here in the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum begins with a modest but instructive collection of artifacts typical of the people who explored and dominated the Americas for millennia.

Next, a compressed turn-of-the-20th-century neighborhood is recreated in a delightful walk-through exhibit. Watch for dangerous school children!

Just when you think this place couldn't be any more charming, it gives you geographically instructive model trains, a plush Edwardian vintage train car, and faithful dollhouse reproductions of lovely local Victorian homes.

Add to that the smiling friendly docents, and it's enough to make you feel at home and happy. Please visit, and leave some cash in the...

Leave your children at home, they are not welcome here. We went on a Free Thursday. Enjoyed the displays. But not a kid friendly staff. We had 5 adults and 8 children ranging from 12 to 2. In all the rooms where the staff was not the children enjoyed reading and looking at the displays. For the most part kept their hands in their pockets. As we went upstairs or near gift shop the staff made us all feel like we were doing something wrong. 10yr old boy went to use the restroom he stopped by the gift shop and was told to go back to his group . The same thing happened with a 6 yr old that was standing on the step right behind her gradfather. We left the museum after that. I asked the staff what we did wrong they said they just could not have the liability of children being without their parents. Glad it was Free but I don't recommend and we...

Let me start of by saying that the exhibits are really neat! Unfortunately the staff is lacking! I'm not sure if they are volunteers are actual paid employees, but there is one in particular that is so miserable and unhappy that she literally screamed at the children in our homeschool group. It was so uncomfortable that we left immediately. The kids were having an amazing field trip prior, so this was extremely disheartening to have it end this way. I would recommend that the employees reevaluate if they actually want to work with the general public, and if so learn to interact accordingly. This is especially important in a position where you are dealing with malleable young minds. We do not plan to go back...