Heritage Tours:
Search for a tour by category:
Search site:
Evidence of agriculture is visible all across the Evergreen State. Agricultural buildings and fields and their relationship to transportation routes illustrate how farmers acclimated to the region’s climate and topography. Vast fields of wheat, dotted with barns, grain silos, farmhouses, and the occasional schoolhouse dot the landscape of eastern Washington. Railroad tracks lead to silos, often run by a cooperative of local farmers, showing how farmers got their goods to market. Cattle and sheep ranching occur in the areas of the state with a drier climate—the highlands of the Okanagan, Snake, Yakima, and Spokane valleys. Smaller truck farms, growing fruits and vegetables, are closer in to the urban centers of Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Walla Walla, Yakima, and the Tri-Cities. Historically dairying, poultry, and bulb and berry farms were located in Western Washington counties, benefiting from increased rainfall and greater access to city markets, like Pike Place Market in Seattle.
Explore los sitios del patrimonio latino en dos recorridos separados, en la Area Metropólitana de Seattle y en el Valle de Yakima, que reflejan los lugares históricos, negocios, eventos culturales y museos que celebran las muchas contribuciones y la diversidad dentro de la población que habla español en el estado de Washington.
Explore Latino heritage sites in two separate tours—in Seattle and in the Yakima Valley—which reflect the historic places, businesses, cultural events, and museums celebrating the many contributions of and diversity within the Spanish-speaking population of Washington.
Explore historic sites from the thriving communities built by Japanese Americans on Vashon Island, despite pervasive racism, barriers to citizenship and land ownership, and wartime mass incarceration.
The tour crosses through rich agricultural lands along the flats and deltas of the Skagit, the Stillaguamish, and the Snohomish Rivers, which with their tributaries reach back through many miles of rolling land and wooded foothill to the Cascade Mountains.
The tour runs almost due north/south through a green and pleasant region of truck gardens, orchards, woodland patches, and meadowlands, and neat, attractive houses and well-built barns.
The tour follows the highway, lined with service stations, taverns, lunch counters, tourist camps, and billboards. It cuts through a prairie and winds around low hills before entering the Chehalis and Newaukum river valleys as it winds on to Mary’s Corner.
This tour extends between Laurier and Spokane through narrow mountain valleys in the rugged Colville National Forest crossing the Columbia River and following the twisting Kettle River.
This tour extends between Spokane and Pasco through coulees and through wheat fields along the flat open landscape of the Palouse.
This section of US 195, known as the Inland Empire, or Palouse Highway, traverses one of the most fertile farming areas in the United States. Practically the entire route runs through rolling hills, treeless except for clumps of willow and brush along the creeks and in the swampy lowlands.
The tour climbs over the Cascade Mountains north of Mount Rainier affording spectacular views from both directions and traversing dramatic topography and changing vegetation on both sides of the mountain range.
Winding through the Palouse this tour follows parts of the Palouse Scenic Byway through miles of the rolling hills and wheat fields of the Palouse.
This tour follows an old stage route connecting Mary’s Corner with Vancouver, on the Columbia River. The tour follows the Chehalis, Newaukum, and Columbia rivers.
This tour follows the Whidbey Scenic Isle Way, following state routes 20 and 525 through farmland and historic towns on Whidbey Island along a portion of the Cascade Loop Scenic Byway.
This tour follows the Mount Baker Scenic Byway between Bellingham and Artist Point at the base of Mount Baker, the northern most peak of the Cascade volcanoes. The tour passes through cedar forests, and by spectacular waterfalls and rugged peaks.
This tour follows the Whidbey Scenic Isle Way, following state routes 20 and 525 through farmland and historic towns on Whidbey Island along a portion of the Cascade Loop Scenic Byway.
This tour follows the Mount Baker Scenic Byway between Bellingham and Artist Point at the base of Mount Baker, the northern most peak of the Cascade volcanoes. The tour passes through cedar forests, and by spectacular waterfalls and rugged peaks.
This tour roughly follows the north/south route of the old Pacific Highway, SR 99. Today, many parts of the old highway still exist, and long sections of this historic route can be driven from the Canadian border to Vancouver.
This tour traverses a region of mountains, rolling prairies, and sagebrush wastes. From the Laurier near the Canadian Border to Pasco, the highway curves through mountain-flanked highland valleys before cutting across the farmland of the Palouse.
The tour traverses two distinctly contrasting regions, different in topography, vegetation, climate, economy, and cultural development, but held together by a common dependence upon Spokane, the hub city of the Inland Empire. The southern portion follows parts of the Palouse Scenic Byway.
This tour spans the state from the fresh water harbor along the Snake River across the rugged Cascade Mountains to the saltwater of Grays Harbor.
This tour covers 52 miles, starting with the state capital of Olympia, through the lumber town McCleary, the bulb farms of Satsop, timber-wealth-built Montesano on to Aberdeen and Hoquiam.
Explore the farming communities and rich heritage of the lower Yakima Valley as you follow the gently twisting path of the Yakima River.
Large, well-cultivated farms alternate with stretches of uninhabited range; at widely spaced intervals small towns, ganglia of settlement, are strung along the highway. Travel through large, well-cultivated farms alternating with stretches of uninhabited range and dots of small towns.
Travel through the jagged glaciated peaks of the North Cascade Mountains between the lower Skagit and Methow valleys. The tour winds through rich agricultural lands, dense forests and alpine mountain passes along the North Cascades Scenic Byway.
This route traverses one of the most sparsely settled and most isolated parts of the state. The route travels through scablands and along the Columbia River to the Canadian border.
This tour crosses Snoqualmie Pass, traveling from rugged mountains to the shore of Puget Sound along the Mountains to Sound Greenway. This tour offers multiple side trips extending out to explore the national forests and rich lowland farming communities.
Travel through the Cascade Mountains along the North Cascades Scenic Highway between the lower Skagit and Methow valleys. The tour winds through rich agricultural lands, dense forests and alpine mountain passes.
This route traverses one of the most sparsely settled and most isolated parts of the state. It travels through scablands and along the Columbia River to the Canadian border.
Large, well-cultivated farms alternate with stretches of uninhabited range; at widely spaced intervals small towns, ganglia of settlement, are strung along the highway. Travel through large, well-cultivated farms alternating with stretches of uninhabited range and dots of small towns.
Explore the maritime and agricultural history of Bainbridge Island. The tour loops around the full island with side trips out to notable points, forts, and waterfront communities. The core tour can be done by car or by bicycle, though there are frequent hills on the island.
The deep, glacially sculpted channels of the Puget Sound are rich in islands. This tour explores three of the major islands. Each island tour is geographically separated and best approached as individual trips due to the logistics of ferry travel. The San Juan Island tour follows the San Juan Islands Scenic Byway.
Like the verdant crest of a young mountain, Vashon Island stretches for 14 miles along the west shore of the Sound, midway between Seattle and Tacoma, its fertile heights, above the timbered slopes, dotted with orchards and fields.
