GOLDENDALE, Klickitat County — In 1907, entrepreneur Samuel Hill arrived in Goldendale with a vision.
He bought 5,300 acres of land along the Columbia River and founded the Maryhill Land Company, hoping to create a farming community 3 ½ hours from Seattle. Seven years later, he began working on a mansion that was to be his home base in the community.
While Hill’s vision didn’t play out exactly as he planned due to a lack of irrigation and the remote location, that mansion went on to find a new life as the Maryhill Museum of Art — a place that, perhaps unknown to many Washingtonians, has ties to royalty.
These days, the museum — which has an eclectic collection including more than 80 pieces by sculptor Auguste Rodin, a set of French haute couture fashions displayed on small mannequins, and more than 3,500 Indigenous art objects — welcomes up to 25,000 people annually. That number is likely to increase this year as the museum marks a major milestone: the 100th anniversary of its dedication by Queen Marie of Romania.
Hill had met the queen in 1893 when he was in Europe to sell Great Northern Railway bonds to members of royalty. At the dedication ceremony, which brought 2,000 people to the then-unfinished museum, Marie thanked Hill for his help raising war relief funds for Romania. As an extra thank you, she brought with her a variety of Romanian art pieces, which would be added to the museum’s collection.
In honor of this centennial, the museum recently opened three exhibits highlighting Marie’s contributions.
“Russian Icons; New Mexican Bultos and Retablos” features five of the eight Russian icons — religious works of art — Marie brought with her when she dedicated the museum. Those icons, all delicate egg tempera on wood panels, are joined by contemporary bultos (wooden carvings of saints) and retablos (devotional altar paintings) by Gustavo Victor Goler, Charles M. Carrillo, Jerome Lujan, Onofre E. Lucero and Ruben M. Gallegos.
“Because of Queen Marie, we have this incredible devotional arts collection, and we’ve expanded that,” said Amy Behrens, executive director and CEO of the Maryhill Museum of Art.
The “Romanian Embroidery” exhibition showcases blouses and chemises, painstakingly beaded and embroidered in primarily, reds and blues, similar to those Marie brought to Goldendale in 1926. The more recent acquisitions continue the institution’s interest in Romanian and Balkan textiles.
“These chemises would have been foundational garments,” Behrens said. “When you think about it as a Pacific Northwest parallel, you could think of this as your base layer.”
Finally, the museum is also displaying Romanian folk pottery given to the museum by Marie as well as 20 pieces crafted in Horezu in south-central Romania. The pieces include cups, bowls, plates, vases and pitchers, some intricately decorated and others featuring simpler designs of flowers or animals.
“She was really beloved by her people, because she celebrated a lot of the traditional arts of Romania that she adopted,” Behrens said.
These exhibitions aside, one only has to step inside the museum to see Marie’s other contributions, as the main room on the entry level is filled with her personal items, including the gown she wore to the 1896 coronation of her cousins Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra of Russia, a 1923 replica of her coronation crown, family photographs and books she wrote.
Most prominently, the room features several pieces of gilded furniture, including the queen’s corner throne, corner chair, table and chairs, and desk. With their size, level of detail and golden shine, it’s easy to envision these pieces in a royal palace.
Two more founders
Spotting the castlelike Maryhill Museum of Art for the first time feels a bit like seeing a mirage. While driving from Spokane, I followed the Columbia River for the final hour-and-a-half of the trip, watched Mount Hood get closer and closer, then — bam! — there it was: a sprawling building on a lush green lawn, in stark contrast to the tans and browns of the surrounding landscape.
After Hill’s planned community failed to come to fruition, the building could have very well sat empty were it not for the efforts of two women who persuaded Hill to convert the mansion into an art museum.
The first, Loïe Fuller, was an American dancer who made waves in Paris and who met Hill in 1915 at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a world’s fair held in San Francisco. Fuller’s friendship with Rodin and other art greats meant she could call on them for pieces as she worked to compile what would become the museum’s core collection.
The second, Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, was the wife of Adolph Spreckels, who ran the Spreckels Sugar Company in San Francisco. Hill met de Bretteville Spreckels through a mutual friend in Portland sometime before 1914.
After the lengthy settlement of Hill’s estate halted work at the museum after his death in 1931, de Bretteville Spreckels decided, in 1937, to finish it, donating work from her own collection to the museum.
With de Bretteville Spreckels at the head of the museum’s board of trustees, Maryhill Museum of Art opened on May 13, 1940, Hill’s birthday.
‘A pathway for everybody’
The story of Hill, Fuller, de Bretteville Spreckels and Queen Marie is told in the museum’s Founders Gallery, and the interests of the quartet are celebrated through the museum’s permanent collections.
Because of Fuller’s connection to Rodin, the museum has more than 80 pieces — plaster studies, watercolor sketches, terra cottas and bronzes — by the famed sculptor. Fuller herself gets a hallway dedicated to her life and career that’s filled with photos and posters from her youth and performing days. The museum’s cafe is also named Loïe’s in her honor.
Continuing Hill’s collection of Native-made baskets, the museum has amassed more than 3,500 Indigenous art objects, many of which are on display in “Indigenous Peoples of North America.” These objects include beadwork, baskets, carvings and more, primarily from the Columbia River Plateau region.
Patrons have de Bretteville Spreckels to thank for “Théâtre de la Mode,” a collection of haute couture fashions on miniature mannequins, after the mannequins were found languishing in a department store basement in San Francisco following their tour of Europe and the U.S. after World War II. Three of the nine sets are on display each year, and those sets are rotated every two years.
Last but not least, and the only permanent exhibit without a direct connection to the founding four, is the George E. Muehleck, Jr. Gallery of International Chess Sets. The gallery began when Clifford Dolph, then museum director, curated an exhibit on chess sets in 1957. Since then, the museum’s collection has grown to include more than 400 chess sets from around the world.
Together, these collections form what many consider a hidden gem — a label Behrens hopes changes as, between the new exhibitions and events held on the museum’s campus, this centennial celebration inspires those who have heard of the museum but never stopped in, to finally visit.
“Whether you’re an art person and this is your pilgrimage, or whether this is something you were just curious about, there’s a pathway for everybody to get here,” she said.
Maryhill Museum of Art is open seasonally, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily March 15-Nov. 15; 35 Maryhill Museum Drive, Goldendale; accessibility info: st.news/maryhill-accessibility; admission $10-$23, children 6 and under free, family (2 adults, 2 youth) $55; 509-773-3733, maryhillmuseum.org.
A variety of events are scheduled over the coming months, including an evening of stargazing, a centennial celebration in September and more. For more info: maryhillmuseum.org/calendar.
Other places to visit nearby
After visiting Maryhill Museum of Art, it’s worth stopping by these attractions:
Stonehenge Memorial and Klickitat County Veterans Memorial: This monument, a replica of England’s Stonehenge, was commissioned by Hill as a memorial to soldiers killed in World War I, specifically those from Klickitat County. It’s 3 miles east of the museum, off Highway 14. Open 7 a.m.-dusk daily. 97 Stonehenge Drive, Goldendale. Free. maryhillmuseum.org/outside/stonehenge-memorial.
Goldendale Observatory: The Goldendale Observatory currently offers two programs. The afternoon program teaches visitors about the sun while the evening program, billed as the main event, gives guests the opportunity to look at stars and other space objects through one of the world’s largest public telescopes. Open Thursday-Sunday through September. 1602 Observatory Drive, Goldendale. Admission is free through a Washington State Parks Discover Pass ($10/day pass or $45/annual pass), which is required to park on site. goldendaleobservatory.com.
Wineries: There are several wineries in the Columbia River Gorge including Maryhill Winery (9774 Highway 14, Goldendale), Loop de Loop (451 Kramer Road, Underwood), Savage Grace Wines (442 Kramer Road, Underwood), AniChe Cellars (71 Little Buck Creek Road, Underwood), CLYZM (121 W. Jewett Blvd., White Salmon), Syncline Winery (111 Balch Road, Lyle), COR Cellars (151 Old Highway 8, Lyle) and Waving Tree Winery (123 Maryhill Highway, Goldendale).
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