Douglas County Museum

At the end of September 2023 I went to the Douglas County Museum of Natural and Cultural History. I’d been there 15 or 20 years ago and been really impressed with the taxidermy because it was done in such a way that you could really learn about the animals and their surroundings. I’d always wanted to go back but somehow never did. This time I took a ton of pictures. I mentioned it in my journal for my chinuk wawa class:

nayka miɬayt kʰapa uk tʰawn roseburg kʰapa umpqua-iliʔi. hayash iliʔi-kəmtəks-haws yawa. hayu k’ix-miməlust-x̣əlxel-ikta (taxidermy animals) yawa. wəx̣t nayka nanich stun kʰapa munk-kʰuk taqwəla pi dret t’ukti upqwəna.

I went to the Roseburg on the traditional Umpqua lands. There is a big natural history museum there. There are many taxidermy animals. I also saw a stone used to prepare hazelnuts and some really pretty baskets.

Accessibility: The museum itself is pretty easy to get around, however, there is no elevator. The museum is built on a hill and there is a designed path through the exhibits where you enter on the upper floor, see that floor, go down the stairs, see that smaller floor, exit to an outdoor area with more exhibits (and access to a second building of mostly farm equipment) and from there either go up a second set of stairs to return to the entrance or go up a smaller set of stairs to go to the train station (there is also a train off the patio area) then up a mild slope through a garden area with some small buildings that had been moved there and a picnic area to end up by the front entrance. In a wheelchair or if you can’t do stairs, you look at the main floor, go out the front door and down the hillside along the building to enter the patio area from which you can access the rest of the main area and the other areas next to the patio. Then you go back up the hill and over to the picnic area, other buildings and to the train station on that mild slope. (The train station was closed for painting the day I was there, but it looked identical to the still in service but rarely open Oregon City Amtrak station.) Also, the main floor bathroom is not wheelchair accessible, although I had no trouble crutching in. There is a wheelchair accessible bathroom but I didn’t check it out.

Tags: accessibility, history, museum, Museums, Roseburg, taxidermy, travel