Play pioneer at Eatonville's living-history museum

Museum: Pioneer Farm Museum, 7716 Ohop Valley Road E., Eatonville, Pierce County

Setting: Located in the pretty little Ohop Valley, this living-history museum consists of relocated pioneer buildings from the surrounding area (one cabin is currently being reconstructed). Tour guides lead visitors on a 45-minute visit of the buildings, where they can participate in activities done by early settlers.

Museum Displays: Visitors first tour a pioneer cabin with original furnishings, then go to the huge activities cabin, lit only by kerosene lamps and a large river-rock fireplace. Here kids can don pioneer-style clothing and do chores that would have been done by pioneer children, such as make butter, grind flour, knead dough, card wool and do laundry outside using a washtub and hand wringer. Girls can have ringlets made from an antique curling iron heated by a lamp flame, while boys can lather up and "shave" with a (dull) straight razor.

In the barn, there are eggs to gather and weigh, a friendly Guernsey and goat to milk, a sheep to touch, and a horse, piglet and rabbits to pat, followed by a jump into the hay pile. Then it's on to a working forge, where kids can pound a heated horseshoe and plunge it sizzling into cold water.

At the woodshed, use tools to strip logs, saw wood, pound nails and learn the physics of pulleys. A visit to the one-room schoolhouse for a lesson and a peek into the schoolteacher's tiny furnished cabin brings you back to the entrance.

Highlights: This hands-on museum is the most fun with kids — the more the merrier. School groups come through weekdays in spring and fall (when it's closed to the public), then parents return with the whole family since students can't stop talking about the place. In summer months, kids can also visit the adjacent Ohop Indian Village and participate in activities such as making arrowheads, digging out a canoe or weaving on a hand loom.

Hours: The museum opened for 2009 on March 15. Mid-March to Father's Day (in June) and Labor Day to Thanksgiving, it is open weekends only; From Father's Day to Labor Day, it is open daily; closed Thanksgiving to mid-March. Tours of the Pioneer Village start at 11:15 a.m. and run continuously until the last tour at 4 p.m. (whenever you arrive, you'll be slotted into the tour at intervals). Ohop Indian Village tours run during summer months, Friday through Sunday only, at 1 and 2:30 p.m.

Admission: Pioneer Village tour is $7.50 adults, $6.50 seniors, $6.50 children 3-18. Ohop Indian Village tour is $7 adults, $6 seniors, and $6 kids ($1 off for both tours on same day). Note: All restrooms are (relatively new) outhouses.

Directions: From Interstate 5 in Tacoma, take Highway 512 east to Highway 7 South. Three miles north of Eatonville, turn left on Ohop Valley Road (well-marked by large "Pioneer Farm" sign). From the Eastside, take Highway 167 south to Highway 161, and three miles north of Eatonville (several miles after passing Northwest Trek wildlife park), turn right on Ohop Valley Road.

For more information: 360-832-6300 or www.pioneerfarmmuseum.org.

Freelance writer Cathy McDonald regularly writes the Walkabout column for NWWeekend.