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Seaside Museum & Historical Society & Butterfield Cottage | Seaside, Oregon

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Online Museum Tour

Your adventure will take you back thousands of years, and then bring you forward to the recent past. Allow yourself at least an hour to get an overview of the galleries.

Native American Exhibit     
In the Native American exhibit, you start your journey at the Palmrose and Par-Tee Archeological Digs which were conducted by the Smithsonian Institution during the 1970s. Artifacts were carbon isotope dated and found to be over 2,000 years old. From these artifacts the lifestyle of the inhabitants could be determined. Some of these artifacts are displayed along with drawings and interpretive signage.
Artifacts from the Smithsonian Institution digs at Seaside, Oregon


Above: Jennie Michelle identified the location of the Lewis and Clark Salt Works, in 1904. She was the last known full blooded Clatsop Indian in Seaside, Oregon.

Other displays in the Native American exhibit include:

  • A lighted, interactive, wall map featuring Native American names of geographical features and sites in Clatsop County, Oregon;
  • A map of Native American tribes and languages;
  • Chinook trade jargon;
  • A model of a Clatsop Indian long house, made according to details as described by Lewis and Clark;
  • Hand-crafted items made by Clatsop Indians in the late 1800s;
  • A Lewis and Clark display featuring quotes from the journals, interpretive signage, and artifacts;
  • A diorama of the Lewis and Clark salt works, illustrating the way the Corps of Discovery expedition retrieved salt from the ocean;
  • Jennie Michelle's portrait.

Logging      
A display of very early logging photographs donated to the museum by Crown Zellerbach.

Right: Logging operation using oxen to haul the logs. This is one of many photos from the museum's photo archive.

19th Century Oxen Logging photo
Seaside Hotel and Turnaround, circa 1922
Above: Seaside Hotel at the Seaside Turnaround, ca. 1922.

Seaside's Hotels       
A pictorial history of the hotel at Seaside's Turnaround depicts the progression of ownership from the Grimes Hotel to the Hotel Moore, Seasider Hotel, Seaside Motor Inn, and up to the present Shilo Hotel.

There is also a display of artifacts and photos from other Seaside hotels, dating from the late 1800s through the 1960s.

Diorama of Seaside, Oregon                      
Built to commemorate Seaside's 1899-1999 Centennial, this diorama of Seaside demonstrates the town as it was in 1899.

Numbered buttons illuminate the houses and a nine minute tape recorded narration tell the story of this diorama.


Above: Diorama depicting Seaside, Oregon, in 1899, looking North towards Gearhart, Oregon.
   
Above: Diorama depicting Seaside, Oregon, in 1899, looking south towards Tillimook Head.

Also in the Diorama exhibit you will find photos and history of:

 

  • Native Americans and early pioneers
  • Mr. C.A. McGuire, first Mayor of Seaside
  • Seaside Map, 1890
  • Early 1900s beach scene

Click Here to Continue the Tour