Take a walking tour of Old Fort Sherman or Historic Downtown Coeur d’Alene with General William Carlin, the Commander at Fort Sherman or Captain Peter Sorensen, boat builder, and community leader as portrayed by Robert Singletary. Departing from the Museum of North Idaho the Fort Sherman tour starts at 11 a.m. The downtown tour leaves at 1 p.m. The Museum is having a free day, Saturday October 27 and offering the hour and a half tours on a donation basis. The normal tour price is $15 per person. The Museum is located in front of Coeur d'Alene City Park at 115 NW Blvd. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-5. Parking is free for Museum visitors.
The Museum closes for the season October 31 and will reopen April 1. This is the last opportunity to see the featured exhibit, Collecting, A Closer Look. The exhibit examines how the Museum of North Idaho uses its collections to tell stories and preserve history for future generations. Several collectors have loaned samplings from their private collections. As part of the exhibit the public can use a computer to search the Museum’s collections.
The Museum is “cleaning house” and offering bargain prices on hundreds of reproduction historic photos used in past exhibits. Subjects include trains, steamboats, area towns, recreation, airplanes, mining, logging, Fort Sherman and many other scenes from the Coeur d'Alene Region.
The Museum Store is stocked with regional history books and gifts such as t-shirts, jewelry and huckleberry products. The Museum of North Idaho has published over 20 regional books including its new releases Spokane International: Idaho’s Main Line to Canada by Clive Carter and Angus McDonald of the Great Divide: The Uncommon Life of a Fur Trader, 1816 – 1889 by Steve A. Anderson.
Other exhibits at the Museum include The Mullan Road celebrating the 150th anniversary of Idaho’s first constructed road. The Scandinavians Settled Here exhibit looks at the Nordic influences in the Coeur d'Alene region. It Started with a Fort tells the story of Coeur d'Alene’s Fort Sherman. The exhibit Schitsu’umsh, The People Who Were Discovered Here features beadwork, artifacts, tools, maps, stories and life lessons giving a glimpse into the life of the Coeur d'Alenes Indians. The original signal bells and steering wheel from the steamboat “Flyer” are on exhibit along with photos and models of several of the steamboats that cruised Lake Coeur d'Alene. A replica of a 1932 Forest Service lookout and When the Mountains Roared explores the role of forest fire including the great 1910 Fire. Watch the 20-minute movie Portraits of Coeur d’Alene and discover the people and history that make our area what it is today.
The Museum of North Idaho serves as the regional repository for historical materials relating to the history of the Coeur d'Alene Region which includes Kootenai, Benewah and parts of Shoshone counties. The Museum exhibit hall reopens April 1 but the Museum office and research library are available by appointment year-round. For more information call 208 664-3448, email dd@museumni.org or visit www.museumni.org.