Heritage Tours:
Search for a tour by category:
Search site:
Washington commerce has its roots in the expansive trading networks established by the region’s earliest inhabitants. Euro-American commercial and industrial activity began with the trading posts of the Hudson’s Bay Company, first in Fort Vancouver (1826) and then Fort Nisqually (1833). Since these times, the state’s industry, commerce, and labor has grown by leaps and bounds. Early industries were timber-related, taking advantage of the region’s vast timber stands, followed by fishing and mining. The arrival of the railroad in the 1870s and 1880s caused a surge in commercial activity, as the rails first brought laborers to complete the tracks followed by goods and even more people to the region. The region’s hydro-electric capacity led to incredible public works projects in the first half of the twentieth century, resulting in the construction of the Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams.
Learn stories of home and celebrate BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities that are currently and were historically marginalized in Seattle. Produced in partnership with the National Park Service, Northwest African American Museum, and Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, learn about housing exclusion and how Seattle communities came together to make change.
The eight sites along this segment provide an opportunity to reflect on the resiliency and strength of community in the face of the freeway. Once at the NAAM campus, explore more sites along the approximately 1.8-mile campus loop.
With its four sites, this segment brings you past several key community organizations, including the Nisei Veterans Committee Hall with outdoor exhibits and memorial wall and the Seattle Indian Health Board.
Starting at Washington Hall, the segment loops around 10 sites, weaving along Yesler and Jackson Streets, two major corridors connecting the Chinatown-International District, First Hill, and the Central District.
The 15 sites along this segment lead along historic alleyways, past residential hotels, beloved community gathering places, and reclaimed gardens, with lots of good food along the way.
The six sites along this segment reflect stories of some of Seattle’s earliest communities, including the earlier Chinatown, a historic train station bringing communities of color as train passengers and railway workers, and a historic hotel reflective of the Japanese American community before World War II.
Explore the Japanese American Remembrance Trail, an urban hike in Seattle’s original Japantown from Pioneer Square to the Chinatown-International District to the Central District.
Explore 15 historic sites across four themes—Legacy, Arts and Culture, Call to Action, and Spirituality and Community—which honor the contributions, creativity, and perseverance of the Black community 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 follows the wooded eastern shore of upper Hood Canal, cuts through logged-off land to Sinclair Inlet, and skirts the numerous bays and coves of the west shore of Puget Sound. The tour twists and turns through wooded areas alternating with truck farms, berry fields, and grazing land.
This tour follows the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway through the Olympic National Park and with frequent access to beaches along the Pacific Coast.
This tour follows the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway along SR 101, leaving the well-settled industrial and agricultural region at the head of Puget Sound, heads northward through sparsely populated prairies and logged-off hills to Hood Canal, and then pursues a quiet way along the wooded western shore to Quimper Peninsula and Discovery Bay.
This tour follows SR 101 along the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway with side trips along the Strait of Juan de Fuca Highway National Scenic Byway and the Cape Flattery Tribal Scenic Byway.
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.
This section of the Pacific Highway lies through Washington’s State Capital and some of its largest cities. Skirting the bays of lower Puget Sound, the tour passes through the State’s most densely populated and most highly industrialized area, yet woodland stretches and thinly settled fanning districts are met with just outside these centers.
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.
The northern section of the route winds through sparsely settled foothill country cut by small streams, dotted with lakes, and interspersed with prairies and shallow valleys. A hundred years ago these hills were covered with open forests of lodgepole and ponderosa pine, tamarack, and fir; the prairies were unbroken expanses of bunch grass; and the watercourses ran full and clear.
This tour follows the White Pass Scenic Byway between Mary’s Corner and White Pass. The tour crosses the fertile flats of the Chehalis and Newaukum Rivers and then roughly parallels the winding Cowlitz River, which, although seldom visible, is never more than a few miles from the highway.
The tour follows the wooded eastern shore of upper Hood Canal, cuts through logged-off land to Sinclair Inlet, and skirts the numerous bays and coves of the west shore of Puget Sound. The tour twists and turns through wooded areas alternating with truck farms, berry fields, and grazing land.
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.
The main route to Mount Rainier National Park, the State’s greatest mountain recreational area, the tour leads from prairie lowlands upward through rugged, thickly wooded foothills to the southwest entrance of the park. A portion of the tour follows the Chinook Pass Scenic Byway along SR 410.
This tour follows the White Pass Scenic Byway between Mary’s Corner and White Pass. The tour crosses the fertile flats of the Chehalis and Newaukum Rivers and then roughly parallels the winding Cowlitz River, which, although seldom visible, is never more than a few miles from the highway.
The main route to Mount Rainier National Park, the State’s greatest mountain recreational area, the tour leads from prairie lowlands upward through rugged, thickly wooded foothills to the southwest entrance of the park. A portion of the tour follows the Chinook Pass Scenic Byway along SR 410.
Tucked into the northeast corner of the state, this tour follows the North Pend Oreille Scenic Byway and the International Selkirk Loop along the Pend Oreille river through the heart of the Colville National Forest. Small communities line the glacially carved valley with multiple side trips to explore sites tucked deep into the surrounding mountains.
This tour skirts along the base of the Cascade Mountains passing through former coal mining and lumber towns before climbing up the Mowich River valley to the Mowich entrance to Mount Rainier National Park.
The tour follows the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway as it skirts the many-fingered upper reaches of Puget Sound, and then cuts across to Hood Canal, which it follows to Quimper Peninsula. Swinging in a westerly direction, the route roughly parallels Juan de Fuca Strait then turns to the south following the Pacific Coast.
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.
The tour follows the course of the Lewis and Clark scenic byway along the Columbia River along the Oregon border. The landscape changes dramatically between the east and west sides of the state and passes through several scenic areas.
Tucked into the northeast corner of the state, this tour follows the North Pend Oreille Scenic Byway and the International Selkirk Loop along the Pend Oreille river through the heart of the Colville National Forest. Small communities line the glacially carved valley with multiple side trips to explore sites tucked deep into the surrounding mountains.
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.
This tour skirts along the base of the Cascade Mountains passing through former coal mining and lumber towns before climbing up the Mowich River valley to the Mowich entrance to Mount Rainier National Park.
One of the four routes across the Cascade Mountains, US 2, known as Stevens Pass, traverses rugged, sparsely settled territory almost from its eastern point of departure near Leavenworth. This tour follows the Stevens Pass Greenway.
One of the four routes across the Cascade Mountains, US 2, known as Stevens Pass, traverses rugged, sparsely settled territory almost from its eastern point of departure near Leavenworth. This tour follows the Stevens Pass Greenway Scenic Byway into the heart of the North Cascade Mountains.
Travel through dry wheatlands and occasional patches of scab rock and sagebrush. The route rises slowly with curves and dips, reaching the Columbia River, then descending dizzily by a winding three-mile grade into the canyon carved by the river to one of the wonders of the world, Coulee Dam, a project begun in 1933 and completed in 1941.
From the Idaho Line and bustling Spokane through the Cascade Mountains.
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.
A constantly varying panorama unfolds on the cross-state route between the Idaho Line and Seattle, from Eastern Washington’s fields and orchards, ancient lava flow outcroppings, and powerful hydroelectric history, crossing the mountains of the Cascade Range to Western Washington’s forests, lakes, and populous Puget Sound communities.
Travel through dry wheatlands and occasional patches of scab rock and sagebrush. The route rises slowly with curves and dips, reaching the Columbia River, then descending dizzily by a winding three-mile grade into the canyon carved by the river to one of the wonders of the world, Coulee Dam, a project begun in 1933 and completed in 1941.
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.
