lewis county historical museum

This place has quite a bit of Lewis County history, and is very interesting. The story goes the place is haunted, and it has the McKinley Stump outside. President McKinley was scheduled to speak here, but died before he could. Other candidates have used it to speak from. It used to be next to the depot in Chehalis, and they could get off the train, and be seen and heard to give their speeches.

Our local museum is a great place for the entire family. It is only a few blocks from our home and we visit it often. It is a must for the grandchildren as they can "dress up" and interact with history. The model train set up is a great attraction for our grandson. The permanent and changing exhibits reflect the history of our area. The staff is very family friendly. There is a great display of local Native American artifacts including a model of a plank house. When I was teaching preschool, my class made annual field trips there. Definitely worth a visit.

Its not huge - you can cover everything in 30 minutes - but its full of neat scenes and things from days gone by. Our grandchildren asked "Was it like this when you were young, Grandpa?"

All little towns have museums but this one is particularly interesting given the age of the little town.

I am a local and to have a great museum that I grew up watching it change and all the history that it passes along is great. I became a member last year and have now passed on going with my niece who get to learn a lot that they cannot in school! Great family place.

I was impressed with the displays. Very well done and interesting with a low admission.

Recently PIHA, Paranormal Investigations of Historic America did a paranormal investigation at this historic location and obtained video and audio evidence that the museum is haunted. There has been stories told by employees and visitors for years of strange things happening to them or ghost they have personally witnessed, but these were always considered just ghost stories. Then PIHA investigated the museum and discovered that these stories had some credibility to them. Some of the evidence that their team collected supports the many stories that have been told for years. Seattle's KING 5 TV is posting the complete series of videos made by PIHA on their website. To view the Chehalis Museum video, simply go to the KING 5 TV website and enter PIHA into their "Search" box. There you will find this and many other PIHA paranormal investigation videos there.I would encourage anyone who is visiting the great little town of Chehalis, WA to visit this museum. Besides being officially certified as a haunted location, it also is filled with many displays and exhibits that anyone would find interesting. The volunteer staff there is extremely helpful, knowledgeable and friendly to everyone. Some will even have a ghost story or two to tell, if you ask. When we were there, we also enjoyed the oriental buffet directly across the street from the museum. For a buffet, it was surprisingly good and reasonably priced. Buffets are not my wife's or my first choice to eat at, but we were hungry and it was convenient so we tried it and enjoyed it. We would eat there again.Von & Pam