The Gehl House Pioneer Museum Marysville
Situated in Marysville’s beautiful 30-acre Jennings Memorial Park, a log cabin’s open door and an A-frame sign beckons park visitors to step inside the Gehl House and learn about local pioneer history. Nearby, children slide, swing and chase each other around play equipment, and guests stroll through the WSU Extension Garden, where snap peas climb trellises and roses are in full bloom. Though some guests make the trip just to visit the Gehl House, others happen upon it and are delighted by the opportunity to take a tour. The Marysville Historical Society purchased the cabin in 1986, disassembled it and numbered each piece, and rebuilt it at the park. After moving to America from Prussia, the cabin’s original owners John and Katherine Gehl, built the home in 1884 in a wooded section of the Getchell area, about 8 miles northeast of its present location. The hand-hewn cedar home was assembled without nails and remains an example of fine craftsmanship. In 2004, volunteers from the U.S. Navy volunteered to re-roof cabin. Kenneth Cage, a retired mechanical engineer who has served as president of the Marysville Historical Society since 2002, admires the construction. “All these logs were dovetailed and fitted together,” he said. Near the trees behind the cabin, stands an outhouse with a half moon and the “Old Steam Donkey,” a steam engine built in 1901 by Seattle’s Vulcan Iron Works and an example of the engines used in the logging industry. 52 NorthSoundLife.com
One of Cage’s favorite items on display is a small rack of deer antlers mounted above the doorway. “The Gehl family had one son. That son shot a two-point buck while standing in the doorway of their cabin when he was 12 years old. He helped put food on the table for the family,” he said. “The family kept that rack and years later family members returned to give it to the historical society.” Cage says that many of the surviving Gehl family members now live in the southeastern U.S., but about four years ago reconvened in Marysville for a family reunion. About twenty family members arrived at the Gehl House Museum for a tour. “That was an amazing experience,” Cage recalled. “We got to hear many stories we hadn’t heard before. They remain members of the historical society even though they live at a distance.” A newly constructed building adjacent to the log cabin is expected to open later in the fall to house a new museum for the Marysville Historical Society. It is Cage’s labor of love, and the result of citywide fundraising efforts. The Gehl House is open to tours on Saturdays during the summer months. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a tour from Ken or his wife Ethel, who can tell you some of their own stories of growing up during another time.
Memorial Day–Labor Day, Sa., 12–5 p.m. 6915 Armar Road, Marysville marysvillehistory.org