The Olympia Tumwater Foundation owns and manages Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls, the Schmidt House, and offers scholarships and grants through our Education Program.
History talks return to the Schmidt House! After a long closure due to COVID and a construction project, we’re pleased to announce that monthly History Talks are back! Join us each month for a free hour-long talk on social or natural history, each presented by a recognized expert. All talks will be at noon on a specified Thursday. First come, first seated until capacity is reached.
This History Talk is titled “Tales From the Crypt”. The Masonic and Odd Fellows’ cemeteries in Tumwater are more than simply the repository of graves; they are the repository of history and stories, more than can be told in one sitting. Noted local historian Dennis Larsen speaks about a few of the more colorful interments: the Tilley family, spanning three generations from an 1852 wagon train to European royalty; Charles Grainger, Chief Leschi’s hangman; Myron Hawley Ranney, a Congressional Medal of Honor winner; Wittington Johnston Sayre and Ann M. Sayre, vigilantes who hanged a sheriff; and James Biles, the alleged ox killer.
History Talks are free to attend, and start at noon. Doors will open at 11:45a.
The Olympia Tumwater Foundation owns and manages Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls, the Schmidt House, and offers scholarships and grants through our Education Program.