Maryhill: A Washington State Treasure

Maryhill Museum of Art, located in southcentral Washington, has always been my favorite museum, and the museum by which I judge other museums. This is only natural, perhaps, because it was the first museum I ever went to, back when I was about five years old.

Six decades later, I am still going back to Maryhill usually every year or so. Now that I am older, I can really appreciate its charms.

The museum is fantastic! It has the largest collection of Rodin work on the West Coast, a great collection of chess sets, marvelous baskets woven by Northwest Native Americans  and an historic collection of memorabilia contributed by Queen Marie of Romania, a granddaughter of Britain's Queen Victoria. These holdings include her throne, Faberge items, intricately gilded furniture and portraits of the royal family.

But Maryhill is more than a museum. It also includes Washington's Stonehenge, pictured above, which is a monument to Klickitat County soldiers who died in World War I. It is the first WWI monument built in the United States.

It also includes the first paved road in Washington State. Down the road from the museum is Maryhill Winery, which brings in big-name entertainers for summer concerts.

What really adds to Maryhilll's charms are the stunning vistas. Maryhill sits on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. On a clear day, you really feel you can see forever!

Because I'm so enthusiastic about Maryhill (we take all out-of-state guests there), I've written an ebook about it: Maryhill, A Washington State Treasure, which is now available on Amazon Kindle. This is a text-only version.

If you like pictures with your words, you'll probably like my podcast, Maryhill: Guarding the Columbia River Gorge, better. Do note that my ebook is a much-updated, expanded version of the podcast which is also available from Amazon or Visual Travel Tours. Use code cp20 if you order direct from VTT; you'll get a 10 percent discount.

The "dolls" of Maryhill Museum

The "dolls" at Maryhill Museum of Art

I first visited Maryhill Museum, a wonderful eclectic museum in southcentral Washington, when I was five or six years old. It was the first museum I'd ever visited, and even today remains my favorite.
What I remember most about that visit was the "dolls." Well, I thought they were dolls, but they really weren't. They were fashion mannequins put together by French houses of fashion toward the end of World War II to let the world know that French fashion was very much alive, thank you.

The mannequins are 27 inches high, made of wire, and are dressed in the latest French fashions of that day. Even the accessories, such as shoes, jewelry and handbags, were made by the finest fashion designers Paris had to offer.



After being in storage for a number of years, they ended up at Maryhill where a third of them are on display every year. The mannequins have a special hall to themselves, and they deserve it. Maryhill also has a fascinating collection of chess sets from around the world and Native American artifacts, and memorabilia belonging to the royal family of Romania, but it is the dolls that have always held my interest.