THANK YOU TO ALL OUR DONORS and VOLUNTEERS

The Capital Campaign to Complete the Shenandoah, Enclose the Maritime Gallery and Create Engaging New Exhibits is complete!

Thanks to our many generous donors (more than 430 to date!), we raised $3 million with significant contributions from the following:

Washington State Heritage Capital Project Fund

James & Carolyn Milgard

NPS/IMLS Save America’s Treasures Grant Program

Troy & Connie Alstead

Max and Janet Laudeman

Peninsula Light Company

Dr. Jon Kvinsland

DV and Ida McEachern Foundation

Pierce County Historic Preservation Commission

Mr. Rick Ellingson

The Port of Tacoma

Jay & Peachy Smalling

The RPM Foundation

Dan and Pat Nelson

Completion of the Shenandoah

Using a combined, half-restoration to 1980s, half-conservation and reconstruction to the original 1925 design, the 65-foot wooden purse seiner Shenandoah is a storyteller of great renown. From “tree to sea,” her stories echo through the generations. The exhibit plan for the Shenandoah will increase her teaching ability and accessibility ten-fold. This approach will not only demonstrate restoration and conservation techniques, it will allow visitors to peer inside the hull of the boat as well as step aboard at deck level. The Museum has made a significant investment in the restoration of the Shenandoah–with more state grant and matching funds secured for the years ahead­. Enclosing the space not only protects the Shenandoah, it provides the community with a beautiful gallery that can be used year round.

WATCH THE SHENANDOAH PROJECT CREW RE-FRAME THE BOAT:

Shenandoah: The Back Story

Pasco Dorotich had the Shenandoah built by Skansie Shipyard for service as an Alaskan cannery tender. Little did Dorotich know that the boat would wind up having three lives: One as a cannery tender, one as a purse seiner, and its last as a museum artifact destined to teach about the lives and livelihoods of those who built and skippered her.

 The Shenandoah is one of only two Skansie-built seiners left in Gig Harbor; one of a handful still in existence; and the only Skansie-built fish boat that is open to all.

WATCH THE SHENANDOAH MAKE HER WAY TO THE MUSEUM:

“We have lived, breathed, and eaten from Puget Sound waters. Completion of the Maritime Gallery–through its enclosure and creation of engaging exhibits and interpretive experiences–will provide intriguing lenses through which we can see our past, explore our present, and imagine our future, while at the same time fulfilling and improving upon the original vision for the space.” - Stephanie Lile