Working Waterfront Maritime Museum in Tacoma, WA
Tacoma, WA, is known for its beautiful waterfront, and the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum showcases Tacoma’s history as a hub of trade. This Museum has something to offer people of all ages. It features exhibits on the evolution of maritime commerce in Tacoma over the last century, an interactive water-related play area for children, and lots more!
11 Reasons Why You Need to Visit the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum:
- Experience a working waterfront museum. Learn about the maritime history of Tacoma through interactive exhibits, hands-on activities, and historical artifacts from Washington’s past.
- Tour a vintage tugboat. Check out the newest addition called The “Puget,” built-in 1909 as an oil tanker for Puget Sound Fuel Company who used wooden barges to move coal from Newcastle upriver until they went out of business in 1947. In 1970 it became part of Foss Waterway Seaport, where today people can tour its cabins, bridge, and engine room with crew members providing insight into life aboard one of these vessels during that era.
- Explore stories filled with historic photos & artifacts from around Puget Sound.
- Learn about the life of a commercial fisherman through interactive exhibits and hands-on activities. Some popular favorites include our gillnetter, crab pots, fish wheel & salmon ladder!
- See examples of different types of boats used for fishing over time and an underwater display with beautiful images captured by UW professor Emeritus Bob Bailey. This collection includes some rare photos taken before Tacoma was surrounded by development, which means you’ll see what it looked like to travel between Gig Harbor and Seattle via Commencement Bay or up to Port Angeles, WA, across Budd Inlet, where many other historical items are also exhibited including several antique, mining tools and household goods.
- Check out the small boat shop. Today, Built-in 1959 by the Foss company, it is used for woodworking demonstrations where visitors can watch as local artists make art with their hands, including painting, carving, and weaving.
- Learn how people lived 200 years ago through displays filled with old clothes, kitchen appliances, and other household goods accompanied by stories describing what life was like during those times without the technological advancements we have available today, making it difficult to imagine what it would be like without them.
- Enjoy fresh-caught Dungeness Crab while taking in the beautiful view of Commencement Bay! We’re close enough to smell and hear the boats coming & going from our deck, which is open daily during crab season.
- Please take a look at some historic images captured by local photographer, Dona Spring who had spent years documenting this area’s rich maritime history dating back to 1854 when Captian George Vancouver first visited Puget Sound for an accurate description & charting its waterways. Today she offers walking tours around Point Defiance Park, where people get to see these images up close along with learning about Tacoma’s history.
- Check out a replica of the first steamboat in Washington called “Beaver” that set sail on Puget Sound during 1853, bringing news from California & New York as well as mail and passengers. It would depart from Olympia at sunrise for its daylong journey arriving around sunset at Steilacoom, where folks would be off and make their way to Olympia by stagecoach.
- Learn about what life was like for a family living aboard one of Puget Sound’s historic schooners. Tours are led by docents in period costumes who share stories of what it was like to live on one of these vessels in different eras, ranging from the early 1800s when they were used for fishing until steamboats became more popular.
About the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum
The Working Waterfront Maritime Museum in Tacoma, WA, is a great place to visit if you love working waterfronts. If the Puget Sound area is your destination, visiting the Museum is a must. Located on historic Commencement Bay in Tacoma, WA, you will find this magnificent maritime Museum dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich history of Pacific Northwest seaports through exhibits that highlight our region’s working waterfront.
The Working Waterfront Maritime Museum has seven galleries with rotating exhibits designed for visitors of all ages. Whether you are interested in boats or local history, there is something here for everyone. Children love learning about how people lived, while adults enjoy exploring boat models or seeing historical records like aerial view maps from earlier times. The current exhibit, Landing is A History of Marine Transportation along Puget Sound, showcases marine transportation through history, including the boats that served our area’s maritime communities.
The Museum has interactive exhibits designed for children of all ages and adults alike. Kids can climb on ship models or see how ships are built in their workshop, while parents enjoy learning about different lifeboats used by sailors. There is even a tiny theater with videos detailing local marine transportation over time! Adults love exploring working boat shops where they can watch real artisans work on restoring historic vessels like tugboats at Puget Sound Tugboat Company. A gift shop with unique gifts makes it easy to buy something special after your visit!
Facts about the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum
Visiting the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum in Tacoma, WA, is a great way to learn about Puget Sound. With over 150 years of combined local maritime history, you can experience it all at this one Museum! Whether you’re interested in boats or fish, there’s something for everyone here, and even if your family isn’t that into water sports, they’ll still have fun exploring everything else available. If you need more reasons why visiting the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum in Tacoma, WA, will make a great vacation stop, along with these facts:
– There are exhibits on Native American life before European settlers arrived as well as modern-day culture; how early settlement changed their lives forever (including several artifacts from actual tribespeople)
– There are also exhibits on the fishing industry through time – from Native Americans to modern-day and what life was like for those in the fishing industry
– Several boat models can be viewed up close, including replicas of boats used for fighting forest fires and lifeboats on ships. You can even climb on some of the boat models!
– The Working Waterfront Maritime Museum has a hands-on approach to learning about Puget Sound, making it exciting for all ages! There’s even an entire room dedicated just to children with many interactive activities.
– If you want something more peaceful than exploring exhibits inside this Museum, there is also an outside area where visitors can walk around and enjoy looking out onto Tacoma’s working waterfront. You’ll get great views of both Commencement Bay as well as Mount Rainier, one of Washington State’s most beautiful mountains that stands tall over everything below it.
Activities in Working Waterfront Maritime Museum
The first activity is boat rides on the upper deck of the tugboat W.W. Seymour, where you can see how tugs work and what they do in their daily lives. The second one is a ride on the lower deck, which includes small boats under tow by large ships into or out of port and some old Washington State Ferry vessels used for charter trips out onto Puget Sound to watch whales etc.
Other activities include climbing up an inflatable staircase around the main mast of another ship called Point Wilson Lighthouse. It has been decommissioned, but it still holds all its original equipment and is an excellent example of how lighthouses were serviced in the past. There are also helicopter tours over Seattle and Tacoma, WA. Here’s a list of some activities:
Shipwright’s Apprentice Program: Shipwrights with the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum in Tacoma, WA, is busy working on various ship models, including schooners. You can participate in their “Apprentice” program and learn how to build your model boat!
Totem Pole Touch Screens: The totem poles at the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum in Tacoma, WA, have touch screens that tell you about what is being depicted within each scene. There is also an interactive screen where kids can play games to teach children about life around Puget Sound.
Virtual Voyages Adventure Game: Kids who visit this Museum will love playing with Virtual Voyage Adventures, a video game that will introduce them to the exciting world of maritime history.
Dock Tours: The Working Waterfront Maritime Museum in Tacoma, WA, has public dock tours that are free to attend, where you can learn about ships and boats up close! Visit their website for more information on tour times.
Tugboat Workshops & Presentations: At this Museum, they can take a boat out of recycled materials with some guidance from staff members who use each child’s creation as an example when teaching children how they work together to create something useful.
Museum Store + Gift Shop: As you might expect, there is a museum store at the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum in Tacoma, WA, where you can find an extensive collection of nautical gifts and souvenirs. This is the best place to buy souvenirs for your visit!
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