Two Rivers Heritage Museum in Washougal will close for the winter on Oct. 29.
The museum closes this time of year to complete maintenance projects that would be difficult to do while open. This winter, the museum will have work done replacing flooring, adding new lighting to display cases, installing new ceiling lights and continuing inventory work. The projects are funded by a grant from the Beales Foundation.
This year, one of the museum’s main new exhibits was called “School Days,” depicting a re-creation of a classroom from the early 1900s, including an organ, a potbellied stove and a display case with items from various local schools, including a Grass Valley School secretary’s ledger from 1867.
The museum also added an exhibit on local mining in the 1850s and a veterans recognition display, with photos and items from local veterans of various wars dating to World War I.
Another new exhibit looked at the Camas paper mill and Pendleton Woolen Mills. In June, the museum received a 9-foot-tall, 700-pound saw blade that was used in the Camas paper mill’s wood mill. The blade was salvaged by Bill Bjerkie, a retired mill employee, when the wood mill was decommissioned, and he donated the piece to the museum.
