February, 2026
It was a cold and windy morning this morning, so instead of a walk on the beach, I jumped in the big white truck and drove up the road just 15 minutes or so to the town of Taholah. This is Quinault Indian land, and fishing grounds, right where the Quinault River empties into the big Pacific Ocean, and it’s beautiful here.
The small town of Taholah is their home, their land. Taholah is just one of their towns out here on the Olympia Peninsula. There is a large school here for their kids, and stores and shops, and lots of homes. It’s a wonderful community, and culture.
I had tried to visit the museum here in Taholah on two different occasions in the past few years of camping in the area but had not been successful at that … either the museum happened to be closed on the day I went there the first time … or, on the next visit, the entire building was closed for renovation! Oops, no open door for me on either of those visits. But this time, THIS time, the door was open. And oh my gosh was it worth the wait! Come and see!
The photo above (not mine) is of the entrance to the museum. The building houses tribal offices, as well as the museum. I didn’t take the time to take my own photo of the building because I thought there would be LOTS of them online. This photo above was the only one I could find! Ok, next time I’m out there (I will surely be out there again), then I will take my own (better) photo of that building.
But … let’s park the big white truck in that parking lot, and then let’s get inside that building, let’s take a look inside the Taholah Quinault Museum. 🙂
Photo above, just inside the door and looking to the left. Photo below, to the right. This place is large and FULL of great things! And this doesn’t show you anything of the thousands of items that were directly in front of me as walked in that door. I was so impressed.
I chatted with both women who were there as curators of the museum. Both had life-long professional training and experience in schools and museums in the USA and in Canada.
I couldn’t hardly wait to get into the details of the exhibits here. Not surprisingly, basketry was one of the most collected and exhibited from decades ago.
The basket below shows an Orca in the water.
But then there were wood carvings too. There were stone carvings as well but I didn’t focus on them very much, mostly just the basketry and the wood carving.
The piece below may have been stone or shell.
When the individual artist was known, information about them was often given a place here too.
I liked the blue butterfly in the basket below.
So much to see! In the photo below are hats, so many different sorts, all hand made, all old.
At one point, I stopped and looked UP …. the photo below shows canoe paddles up near the ceiling, and look at those carved animal heads just below the canoe paddles.
Below … whale hunting.
Small hand carved wooden canoes, below.
I liked the animal (and the carving of it) in the photo below. There was no sign to describe the carving. It was about a foot long, maybe more. My guess is that it’s a mammal with big teeth, maybe a fox or a coyote?
As I was about to leave, I noticed these carvings below right next to, and above, the entrance door to the museum.
Outside the building once again, I noticed three women chatting with each other. One of them stayed and talked with me about the museum and the Quinault Tribe. She is Quinault. I don’t remember her name; didn’t write it down. She was so friendly and courteous and generous. It seems people all over the world are this way, without judgment, just being nice people.
And, lastly, just to give you an overview (literally) of where I was, where the small town of Taholah is, the image below was taken off the internet. The museum is actually out of the photo, just a tiny bit to the right. But the image does show the major portion of this small town … and the Quinault River … and the Pacific Ocean.
What a spectacular place to live, along the peaceful Quinault River, and right next to the mighty Pacific Ocean.
That museum was wonderful. I’ll be back in the future when I go camping here again. Not on this camping trip, but in the future, I will be back! On THIS camping trip, I still have more of the ocean beach to see, and seagulls to watch, and a little river to explore. So stay tuned. I’m still camped out there at Pacific Beach State Park, so don’t go away. 🙂