Small Museum Brings Culture to Cowboy Country
Washington’s Maryhill Museum of Art Has Something for Everyone
Mar 19, 2009
Maryhill Museum, located in Eastern Washington’s cowboy country, is an eclectic collection. It is one museum that truly does have something for everyone, irregardless of their interests.
The museum has the largest collection of Rodin sculptures and water colors on the West Coast. It has so many treasures belonging to the former Romanian royal family that family members have visited to see their heritage. A couple of miles away from the museum is a replica of the British monolith Stonehenge. Only here it’s a war memorial to the county’s fallen and, on hot summer nights, a place for readings of Greek tragedies and Shakespeare.
Maryhill Has Eclectic Collection
But there’s more to Maryhill than this. Other exhibits include:
- Maryhill Loops Road, a mile east of Stonehenge on Highway 14, is the first paved highway in Washington State. Most of the Loops Road is closed to the public, though the museum does allow the public to drive on it once or twice a year. The Loops Road was created by Sam Hill, a 20th century entrepreneur who was an advocate of good roads in Washington. Hill also built Stonehenge and the chateau overlooking the scenic Columbia Gorge. The chateau was originally intended to be a showcase home for his wife, Mary Hill, but was turned into a museum a couple of decades after she refused to move to such a remote location.
- Theatre de la Mode is a collection of fashionista wire mannequins. The mannequins are dressed in high fashions of the day, down to even shoes, handbags and jewelry from real gems. They were created by the French fashion industry toward the end of World War II to show the industry was alive and well. Maryhill has nine sets of the mannequins, but only displays three sets a year.
- An exhibit of Native American artifacts, and Lewis and Clark memorabilia occupy one wing in the basement. Maryhill is located on the route the explorers traveled from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean.
- Chess players will enjoy Maryhill’s collection of chess sets. It has more than 100 sets from around the world.
- The Eye-See Room is dedicated to enhancing children’s appreciation of art. It’s a place where children can create their own art, make a paper canoe, or twirl around in scarves like Loïe Fuller. Loie was a friend of Sam Hill’s, and took Paris by storm in the early 20th century with her style of dance which involved swirling yards and yards of fabric.
- The outdoor scuplture collection gives artists in other media a chance to show their talents. Many visitors bring picnic lunches to eat while contemplating the pieces and interacting with the museum's resident peacocks.
Museum Sponsors Changing Exhibits, Programs
The museum hosts two changing exhibits a year. One is devoted to Pacific Northwest artists, and the other to artists of national acclaim. In 2008, the national exhibit featured Andy Warhol’s faces; in 2009, Hudson River artists were featured.
The museum also plans a variety of events each season. The events range from outdoor art shows, car shows and programs on heirloom gardening. A calendar of events can be found on the museum’s website.
Maryhill is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily from March 15 to November 15. The museum is located on Highway 14, about nine miles south of Goldendale, Washington. Motorists on Interstate 84, an Oregon freeway which parallels Washington’s Highway 14, should exit at Biggs Junction, and take Highway 97 north over the Sam Hill Bridge which crosses the Columbia River.
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