Yakima Valley Museum: Making a Home

Making a home is a desire all humans share. This section shows ways various peoples made their home in the Yakima Valley, from earliest Yakama Indians to a 1990s resident accustomed to the latest conveniences. Exhibits comparing a 19th century settler's log cabin with the homes created by Japanese, Filipino, and Mexican immigrants challenge traditional notions of the term "pioneer." A part of home life is the special events marking a life passage—birth, coming of age, marriage, death; how people from different cultures in the Valley mark these times illustrates both the shared values of Yakima Valley residents and the separate identities that give a rich diversity to the Valley.

Visit dining room exhibits in this area.

How is Yakima the product of many years of pioneers? Who is yet to come? Museum Visitors enter this section through a pioneer cabin. Based on George Hull's home in the Wenas Valley, this cabin introduces the subject of pioneers in the Yakima Valley. Once inside the cabin, though, the term "pioneer" is redefined, and visitors are introduced to families who have "pioneered" in the Yakima Valley from 1850 to the present day, all seeking new opportunity and a better life. These exhibits use the museum collections and information from our archives to tell the stories of people who came, and continue to come, to a new land, bringing their ambition, hard work, and cultural traditions. Each of these people contributes a piece to the cultural quilt that is the Yakima Valley.