PORT ANGELES — Olympic Timber Town and Heritage Center is one step closer to reality.
In June, the final payment was made on a 57-acre parcel 10 miles west of Port Angeles on U.S. Highway 101, said Bob Harbick, president of the Olympic Timber Town Committee.
“It’s ours, free and clear,” Harbick said. “This was Vi Embree’s final gift.”
Timber Town was the brainchild of late World War II photographer and Port Angeles resident Lee Embree, who died in 2008, and his wife, Vi, who died in April.
Embree had seen old logging equipment rusting in fields and in lots, Harbick said. Instead of letting it rust away, Embree thought it should be in a museum, where people could learn about the history of the timber industry on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The result of Embree’s initial idea is a board of directors who are dedicated to creating a museum and historic re-enactment attraction.
Timber Town features
Timber Town would be a re-creation of a 1890-1900 era logging town, complete with a downtown area, loop railroad, timber mill, trails and an arena large enough for timber equipment demonstrations or horse shows.
More than $500,000 has been invested in the property, Harbick said.
Utilities have been installed, and with the help of Green Crow, Harbick and other Timber Town volunteers have planted several thousand trees for a demonstration tree farm.
Timber Town already owns or has been pledged historic logging equipment, including giant sawmill blades, Harbick said.
An architectural firm, Gentry Architecture Collaborative, has created an exterior vision of Timber Town.
Harbick became involved in the project in 1997, when he first heard Embree pitch the idea at a Port Angeles City Council meeting.
“I was one of the first ones who said, ‘This is a great idea, let’s do it,’” Harbick said.
Embree and Harbick selected a timber property in 2005, and Embree provided the down payment to purchase the property.
When Lee Embree died in 2008, he left the project to Vi, Harbick and a board of directors.
When Vi Embree died, she left a portion of her estate to pay off the mortgage for the Timber Town property, freeing the volunteers to take the next step, Harbick said.
Now the Timber Town group is trying to get rid of tons of road gravel, a remnant from earlier logging activity on the property.
“We have gravel to sell,” Harbick said.
Once the gravel is gone, the property will be graded and construction on the first phase can begin, he said.
Open within five years
Harbick said he believes Olympic Timber Town will be open for visitors within the next five years.
The tourism and history attraction would begin with the Lee Embree Center, a museum and history center. Additional buildings would be constructed and activities added one at a time.
Some areas are reserved for Peninsula Native American tribes to create their own history centers.
There is also space for longtime Peninsula timber-related businesses to showcase their own stories.
Local businesses can sponsor one of the event venues or buildings in the town site.
Olympic Timber Town would also showcase changes logging technology has made in the last century, with simulated logging camps demonstrating 1900, 1950 and 2000 era logging techniques.
The park will feature costumed town “residents” to guide and demonstrate life in 1900 and would host daily live logging skill shows and competitions.
The downtown area and a gift shop will be home to retail stores that would sell Olympic Peninsula wood products, including art and timber- and logging-related merchandise.
More information about Olympic Timber Town is available by phoning Harbick at 360-417-3535 or at www.olympictimbertown.org.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.