Blackman
House, Snohomish, WA
SNOHOMISH:
ANTIQUE CAPITAL OF THE NORTHWEST
by
Bruce Burnett
Henny
Youngman once suggested that you could have a lot of fun by walking
into an antique store and asking, "What's new?"
If that's the case Henny would have beeen ecstatic in Snohomish in the
state of Washington where there are over 100 antique shops clustered
in the historic downtown area. And this is in a community of a mere
8,640 souls.
Founded in 1859 at the confluence of the Pilchuk and Snohomish rivers,
the latter being an efficient avenue of transportation for the huge
cedar and fir logs bound for ocean-going ships, Snohomish has been relatively
unsullied by commercial boom. Its fin-de-siecle ambience and
charm has thankfully remained intact.
Snohomish boasts such a variety and quantity of Victorian houses with
whimsical mixtures of styling that each fall the Snohomish Historical
Society organizes its annual "Tour of Homes" during which
visitors get the opportunity of seeing what's on the other side of the
gingerbread.
Two examples of intriguing stylistic blends are the Blackman House on
the corner of Fourth Street and Avenue D, which is a Dutch Colonial
with Queen Anne Towers, and the Klein House on Avenue D between First
and Second streets, which is a conglomerate of Victorian features including
fish scale shingles and rounded windows.
The Blackman House is not to be confused with the Blackman Museum at
118 Avenue B. Built by Hycanus Blackman, Snohomish's first mayor, in
1879 in Queen Anne style, the house that is now the museum had been
owned by just one family until purchased in 1970 by the Historical Society.
Also owned and run by the Snohomish Historical Society is the Pioneer
Village at the east end of town on the banks of the Pilchuk River. The
Kikendall Log Cabin here dates back to 1875. It was moved to the Pioneer
Village from its location on the Pilchuk River near Machias over 30
years ago and was recently restored to its original condition.
Next door, Cook's General Store takes you back to the days when the
country store was more than a place to shop. The checkerboard is set
up next to the cracker barrel and the shelves are stocked with everything
a settler might have needed around the turn of the century. Inside the
village is Snohomish's original pioneer cemetery containing tombstones
dating back to 1872.
In the antique shops aficionados will find their specialties well catered
to. Some dealers specialize in antique toys and models. Depression era
glass is another popular item. Water glasses in striking reds and blues
- the kind motorists were given at gas stations during the dirty thirties
- are found in most stores. There are dealers who specialize in Fostoria
American crystal, military memorabilia, musical instruments or plain
old bottles. Old books and magazines dating back to the early 1900s
can also be found. I challenge any antique buff to visit Snohomish and
not be delighted with at least one "find."
Snohomish, which is listed on both the Washington State and the U.S.
National Registries of Historic Places, is located on Highway 9 just
east of and running parallel to Interstate 5. It is 50 kilometers (30
miles) north of Seattle and 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of the Canadian
border.
Website: http://www.ci.snohomish.wa.us/.
SNOHOMISH:
ANTIQUE CAPITAL OF THE NORTHWEST
was first published by The Regina Leader-Post
