Historic home tour showcases Cashmere's rich heritage

CASHMERE – The Cashmere Museum and Pioneer Village will host a Historic Home Tour on Saturday, June 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Cashmere.

The tour is self-guided and features six homes, one church, and the Pioneer Village General Store. 

Tickets may be purchased online at cashmeremuseum.org or at the museum on the day of the event. The tour tickets are $20 each, and all proceeds will go to the museum. 

Museum Executive Director Nicky Clennon said that even if tickets are purchased online, tour-goers must start at the museum to pick up a wristband, shoe covers, and the tour map. Museum entrance is included in the ticket price.

Afterward, attendees may tour in any order they like on their own schedule between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., tour organizer Nancy Fike said. 

"I've been to a lot of historic home tours and they're either just the houses or they're just a garden tour," Fike said. "But this year we have both, so the homes have gardens, and it's self-guidedd."

Fike hopes that attendees will enjoy the homes and Cashmere as well, she said.

"Have lunch, you know, take a break during the tour and have lunch in Cashmere and tour the museum," Fike said. "I just want it to be a day for people to enjoy Cashmere."

"Most of the homes are from the late 1800s to about 1910," Fike said. "So they're really historic." 

Three of the homes on the tour were originally in the Paton family, one of the early families in Cashmere. Two of those homes are still in the Paton family. 

Fike's home is also on the tour. The house was built in 1910 as a farmhouse on an apple orchard.

The church included in the tour is the St. James's Episcopal Church, which has been described as an "architectural gem" and was built in 1905 by L.W. Sherman. 

The tour will feature the village General Store in Pioneer Village. It was built in the late 1800s near Dryden, and it was Archie Smith's cabin. Smith was an early settler in the area, Clennon said. 

"His great-great-granddaughter will be there to share the history of the house," Clennon said.

Clennon said the tour is an important fundraiser for the museum.

"Well, as a local nonprofit, we really rely on membership and donations and events like this to sustain the operating of the museum," Clennon said.

"It's also just fun to highlight some of our local history here as well," Clennon said. "We're expecting it to be a pretty fun day and casual atmosphere and hope that people can come enjoy a little look at history in a different way." 

Quinn Propst: 509-731-3590 or quinn@ward.media.