PORT LUDLOW — Olympic Peninsula Gateway Visitor Center is about to take a step back in time and a step forward in providing tourist information.
The first North Olympic Peninsula visitor center west of the Hood Canal Bridge, the Gateway this year will become a Jefferson County history museum as well as give visitors directions to county and Peninsula sights.
“We’re a rural county with a rich history and we want to show that,” said Bill Roney, Gateway Visitor Center manager since last April.
Roney said about 60 percent of those visiting the center see Jefferson County while about 40 percent drive on to Sequim and Port Angeles.
The project, which begins next month, will add a small museum area with history exhibits in a corner of the 950 square foot center.
The building has been at the corner near the junction of state highways 104 and 19 since the early 1990s.
The project was given the go-ahead this week when the Jefferson County commissioners approved the allocation of $58,050 in county lodging tax dollars to make the improvements.
Receiving the funding, Jefferson County Historical Society agrees to continue management of the facility on county land, which it assumed last spring.
The idea is to make the center more attractive and, sometime in the future, add permanent restrooms to replace the portable toilets now available.
