Tiny's Town

Recently, on the way to Seattle from Eastern Washington we planned on spending a Saturday afternoon with family and friends at my wife's cousins cabin on the East Side of Stevens Pass. Not wanting to drive on to Seattle that night we thought we would stay in the Bavarian town of Leavenworth WA.

Well, we soon found out it was Octoberfest and what motel rooms that were available were way over our budget. Looking at a Google Map on my laptop I determined that we could easily drive back east to the little town of Cashmere which was between Wenatchee and Leavenworth. It would mean backtracking about 15-20 miles but that was OK with us.

We thought we would spend the next day, Sunday, in Leavenworth going through the many shops and galleries. I thought I had this all planned out and we would enjoy our selves as we have done many times before in Leavenworth. What we did not know was that we would spend the day in Cashmere enjoying something new and enjoyable.

It was "Apple Days" in Cashmere and there were celebrations going on in several parts of town. The clerk at the motel informed us that "we just had to go see the Museum and the Frontier Village" located on the East end of Cottage Avenue. Being polite, I said sure, it sounds like it might be fun.

We then decided to drive around the town to see what was there. We found a cute little main business district where we ate breakfast at a tavern/restaurant that I had observed what looked like some locals going into. It turned out that the food was good, the price right, and the service was great.

After eating we continues to explore the little town of Cashmere. We have driven by this town for years on the main highway, US 2, but only stopped to get gas or years ago when Tiny's Fruit Stand was still there, we would stop for some Applets and Cotlets, and maybe some fruit that was in season. We had never went on into town. What a mistake.

Cottage Avenue has several early 1900's homes that have been kept up and are being lived in today. I do not know, but would guess that some of these homes could be put on the National Historical Registry.

We drove around town enjoying the old homes, the views of the surrounding hills and the Cascade Mountains to the West. Finally, seeing all we thought there was to see, we drove back down Cottage Avenue and came across the Museum and Frontier Village.

Why not? We asked ourselves as I found a spot to park near the main entrance to the Museum and the Frontier Village. It turns out that admission to one got you into the other as both are run by the Museum.

The Frontier Village consist of old, original buildings that were from the surrounding area and were disassembled log by log, board by board, and numbered — then reassembled on the Museum site. There were several old log homes, a black smith shop, a hat shop (yes, I said hat shop), a saloon, jail, print shop with an old lead letter set press, a leather shop, and a general store among the buildings located in the Frontier Village.

Each of the buildings had a volunteer sitting at the door allowing you access to the inside (most of the year you look through screened doors and cannot actually go inside) where you are allowed to look but not touch. The volunteer at each of the doors was very friendly and knowledgeable. They were more than willing to answer any questions and in many cases they had ties to that particular exhibit.
This little town has lots to experience and is well worth the stop.