About
Webmaster July 31st, 2006
The Bigelow House: Witness to History
The Bigelow House Museum is the oldest residence in Olympia, Washington, and one of the oldest still standing in the Pacific Northwest. It was built in the 1850s by pioneer lawyer and Territorial Legislator Daniel R. Bigelow and his schoolteacher wife Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow. Surrounded by more than an acre of the family’s original land claim, the house is charming example of the Carpenter Gothic style popular in rural America during the mid-1800s.
Visitors to Bigelow House will experience an authentically preserved Victorian-era family home. Home to a single family- a family that saved things- for more than 140 years, it contains a remarkable collection of original furnishings, photos, documents, and other personal belongings.
From the remaining territorial era orchard to elaborate Nineteenth Century handcrafts worked by Bigelow women, Bigelow House embodies the life work of four successive generations of Bigelow family members, offering an authentic glimpse of family life in Puget Sound Country before Washington became a state and American women won the vote.
Opened to the public as a Museum since 1995, visitors may tour the ground floor of the house, its gardens and the historic neighborhood built on the Bigelow’s original 160 acre claim. The Museum hosts several events throughout the year. Special tours available year round.
This page has the following sub pages.
- Comments(0)