GOVERNOR MANSION TOURS RESUME IN OCTOBER, APPLE INDUSTRY TO HAVE ADDED FOCUS
OLYMPIA – Reservations for 2024 October tours at the Washington State Governor’s Mansion are now open and can be made at the Department of Enterprise Services website for reservations .
Tours are offered on a first-come, first-served basis for Wednesdays October 2 or October 9. There are four daily tours, set every thirty minutes starting at 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Each tour time is open to 30 guests and hosted by the Governor’s Mansion Foundation docents.
October tours will include, in addition to the mansion’s rooms, the history and memorabilia of Washington apples and a collection of vintage apple box labels on display from Yakima Valley Museum. On view in the mansion gallery, is an oil painting by E. L. Pierce Milholland titled “Wenatchee Apples” and in the library, a children’s book, “Willow Whoops” by Native American author, Alexis Younglove Erickson. Visitors can also enjoy a recently installed exhibit in the gallery featuring the artworks of Eugene Landry (1937-1988), a member of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe and photographs by Toni Roth, a photographer and resident of the Yakama Indian Reservation in Toppenish, noted for her portraits of Yakama women and girls wearing their traditional regalia.
The Governor’s Mansion is the official residence of the state’s governor. The redbrick, Georgian-style Executive Mansion has been home to Washington’s governors since 1909. It has been fully restored and furnished with many antiques from the American Federal period (1790s-1830s).
The 30-minute mansion tours showcase the first-floor public rooms. There is considerable walking and standing with no public restrooms. The mansion is accessible to walkers and wheelchairs. The walk from the bottom of the driveway to the mansion’s front door is a 200-yard incline. Check in with the Washington State Patrol at the bottom of the mansion driveway at least 10 minutes before tour start-time. Attendees 18 or older are required to show photo ID. An adult must accompany those under 18.
Items not allowed on the tour: include backpacks, strollers, umbrellas, gum, food,