Alaska Ferry at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal,
home of the Whatcom Maritime Heritage Museum

In my 30 years of seeking out and enjoying small local museums - the ones with no money to operate but succeed on small donations and large love - the Whatcom Maritime Heritage Museum is a special find. It meets my standards of:

1) Hard to find - tucked away on the main floor of the Bellingham Cruise Terminal at 355 Harris Ave. in Fairhaven

Whatcom Maritime Heritage Museum entrance in the Bellingham Cruise Terminal

2) Not open very much - noon to 4 p.m. on "most" Fridays. Coincidentally, the Alaska Ferry sails north on Fridays at 6 p.m.

3) No entrance fee, but donations are extremely welcome. Exhibiting takes money and the guys can’t do it all in their home shops.

	4) Unpaid staff who cherish nautical lore, old wooden boats, and preserving their heritage. Like Steve Paus, a retired probation officer, was instrumental in setting up an alternative school - the Home Port Learning Center, established in 1994 and located near Bellingham’s recycling center on the waterfront. It’s basically a workshop where “alternative” students come to build wooden boats. One of the reasons contributing to Paus’ interest in doing this was that many of the kids under his purview as a probation officer were not in school. The school now has school district support via contract. Terry Peterson has worked in the local nautical industry his whole life.
			Volunteers Steve Paus (left) and Terry Peterson

5) On display are things that you still have and use at home, likely also used by your father and his father before him. It gives you an amazing feeling to see your kind of stuff on display, and often as not, the volunteer on duty asks if you would consider donating your stuff so other visitors might enjoy it. My stuff actually came from my mother’s father and her uncle, both of whom sailed in the Navy and later worked in aircraft plant tool shops. I’ll never want for tools.

Model for home canner sent to the US Patent Office

	1945 knot board by my Granddad		1942 US Navy deck clock

But in the case of the Whatcom Maritime Heritage Museum, I DID have stuff I’d consider donating. Like the display board of nautical knots my grandfather made and gave me around 1945. And the 1974 British Seagull outboard engine my family used to power our canoe up the Skagit River just so we could turn around and paddle back down. We don’t do that anymore. My wife considered donating her grandfather’s 1942 US Navy deck clock. He was never in the Navy, so who knows where it came from?

One purpose of the museum is to get volunteers and to build membership and of course to preserve the maritime heritage of Bellingham and Whatcom County. Heritage is in the forefront. There’s a possibility that the museum would have a future place at the Port development on the former Georgia Pacific site.

	Salmon skin, from which many salmon leather products were made, including wallets and cases.		At one time Bellingham canned more salmon than anywhere else in the world

When the space at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal became available, the Association negotiated with the Port and is currently displaying its collection for public view Fridays from noon to four when the Alaska Ferry is docked.

	Model of the Titanic		US navy USS Seawolf Nuclear Fast Attack Submarine 1/144 scale

Individual annual membership is $25, annual family membership, $50. There is currently no other funding, although there are plans for patrons to be able to rent certain parts of the collection for personal use, just as some museums rent art works to private patrons for a fee.

	Photograph of student-built cutter		Model of four-masted sailing ship

The reason these volunteers are passionate about doing what they do is their interest in wooden boats, and in the preservation of the heritage of the history of this industry in Whatcom County.

	Ship's wheel and throttle		Sextant to figure location at sea		1974 British Seagull on display

	Donations are most welcome. Other than memberships, donations are the Museum's only source of income.		Individual memberships are $25 a year and with that you get a free hat!