Army veteran Frank Jones was honored on November 11, 2016 with a pretty special gift. He was presented with a flag that was flown over the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, the US Capitol in Washington DC and the Washington State Capitol in Olympia. Thanks to everyone that participated in this ceremony.
The new season of free monthly history talks at the historic Schmidt House kicked off with a full house on Thursday, Oct. 20 with a presentation from archaeologist Dr. Dale Croes about the earliest confirmed humans in our area at the time of the Ice Age. Talk about history! This was Pre-History in an illustrated…
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One of the most frequent questions I am asked about growing roses in our area goes something like this: “When should I prune my roses and how should I do it”? The answer is, well, it depends. It depends on what time of year it is and what you plan to achieve by pruning. So…
DetailsLos Angeles Times¹ travel writer Brian Clark recently visited Tumwater Falls Park while researching an article on weekend getaways in South Puget Sound. Moira Davin from Visit Olympia (formerly OLT Visitor & Convention Bureau) arranged Brian’s media tour and selected the Park as a “must see.” A former resident of Olympia, Brian has fond memories of the area…
DetailsIn 1913, the USS Maryland, a US Navy Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser, visited Seward, Alaska as part of her survey mission in the Northern Pacific. On July 13, Maryland’s sailors and band paraded down Main Street. In this photo they are shown marching past The Commerce saloon and restaurant, which proudly featured Olympia beer. Town residents—and…
DetailsEarlier this summer, a production crew from NBC filmed local musician Ethan Tucker in Tumwater Falls Park for the television show “The Voice” Ethan Tucker may only be in his early 20s but the self-starting Olympia native has already made a name for himself, impressing some of the more respected veteran artists in today’s music…
DetailsNow is the time to visit Tumwater Falls Park where Chinook salmon are showing up in impressive numbers in their annual migration upstream. Each fall, the Park welcomes thousands of visitors and schoolchildren to see salmon in their natural habitat, slowly making their way to the Tumwater Falls Hatchery. Come be enthralled by the cascading…
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In June 1896, Scientific American magazine published an article titled “The New Double-Deck-Turret Battleship Kearsarge.” The article described the dimensions and armaments of a new class of U.S. battleships, and included an artist’s rendering and a deck plan of the ship.
Peter G. Schmidt, just sixteen at the time, was intrigued by the new battleship design—so much so, that he decided to build a scale model of the ship. Unlike today, though, he couldn’t go down to the local hobby shop and buy a kit. Instead, he studied the plan, the picture, and the text, and built his own model—entirely from scratch.
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