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At the Bigelow Museum House, Cheryl Hougham is known as a super volunteer, but she is more than that – she is a treasure, a store of knowledge, and an intrinsic part of our living local history! Cheryl’s roots are deep in Olympia and the neighborhood around and near the Bigelow House. She has a link to history that, dare I say, few others have. And that is her special connection to the Bigelow House and family.
A Life in Olympia
The former Cheryl Carlson was born in a maternity home in the late 1930s across the street from her parent’s house on 4th and Quince– such a handy location! Her father owned Paul H. Carlson Garage and Service Station at Washington and State Street, and her mother owned Jewell’s Beauty Shop on 4th Avenue, also very near their home. As a high school student, she worked at Nehrings, a Maytag sales and service store on 5th Avenue. After graduating from Olympia High School in 1956, she worked at Mottman Mercantile in downtown Olympia at Fourth Avenue and Capitol Way.
“The first floor had men’s apparel with a mezzanine, the second floor had women’s apparel, and the third floor housed the Capital China Company. I worked on the mezzanine in accounts receivable.
“The selected merchandise would be sent to me in a basket hoisted on a pulley. The money paid would be inside a cup in the basket, and I would make change for the customer. I also wrapped the merchandise in sheets of brown paper, tying it with white string, and returned any change in the cup, along with the wrapped package in the basket.” She also mentioned that the elevator also worked with a manually pulled cable!
In 1957, she married Doran Keith “Gabby” Hougham (1933-2012), and they built their own home before starting a family. Doran and Cheryl raised their children in Olympia, Doran Paul, and Deena. She worked until 1961, when their first baby was born, and feels lucky to have lived in a time when mothers didn’t have to work outside the home.
Doran worked 11 years at Lacey Plywood and 30 years for the area’s leading employer, Olympia Brewery. They were a part of that iconic history! “He got in during the best of times and got out before the worst of times,” she quipped, “We always said that in the family.”
About the Bigelows
In the 1850s, well before the civil war, Daniel R. Bigelow, an attorney and territorial legislator, and his wife Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow, a teacher, built a two-room cabin and then a family home in Olympia, overlooking Budd Inlet. They were community leaders and worked for the public good.
They were creative but orderly people, and history can be grateful that they held onto things, almost everything! For example, it is said that the first Mr. Bigelow never threw away a letter. He stored his correspondence chronologically in boxes – a treasure for historians!
Amongst other good causes, they prominently promoted suffrage and, as good Methodists, also supported temperance. Even now, alcohol is not allowed on the Bigelow House property. Four generations of the same family lived in the house continuously until 2005.
A Connection
Cheryl had always known Mary Anne Campbell Bigelow, Mary Anne from the third of four generations of the same family who lived at 918 Glass Street. Mary Ann had moved into the house in 1935 as a newlywed with her husband, Daniel. It was a frugal move, as he was in law school. Mary Anne said they were allotted, after a remodel, “two and a half rooms,” their own apartment with a separate entrance.
Mary Anne claimed that the two of them first met when Cheryl was only five years old. Mrs. Bigelow was part of her world. She saw her as a customer in her mother’s beauty salon, all around town, and they customarily greeted each other. Her father serviced the Bigelow cars. She saw the family on walks through the neighborhood – they were a family that liked to walk.
As a child showing respect, a convention of the time, she knew her as Mrs. Bigelow - always. When she became an adult, it was hard to call the elder lady by her first name. “She was always Mrs. Bigelow to me!” she said.
Cheryl knew the house itself because Mrs. Bigelow had long opened her home to the neighborhood and community. She opened the doors at Christmas, for Girl Scout events, and for the annual “Tour of Homes.”
Each year the tour focused on historic homes in the west, south, or east side of town, but always included the Bigelow House. And Mrs. Bigelow was the one who provided tea and refreshments. Beautifully dressed and coifed, she enjoyed sharing her home and she liked to show young people the graciousness of etiquette.
To Docent or not to Docent
In the mid-1990s, Cheryl’s husband sat reading the newspaper one day and read to her about the Bigelow House Preservation Association and the goings-on of the Bigelow House. The family entered into a life estate agreement to share their home and artifacts. They were recruiting volunteer docents, to show the house to visitors and talk about the Bigelow house and family, Olympia, and its history. “You could do that,” he commented. And she decided that she could indeed. And she did!
Volunteering with Oversite Overhead
Cheryl volunteered, starting in 1995, at the beginning of the tours. Coming up on 30 years, she is the only remaining docent of that first group.
One curious fact is that in the first ten years, the Bigelow family lived in the house, while it was shared with the public. Truly a living museum! Tours were given in only four rooms at the time and the Bigelows hid upstairs while visitors explored the first floor. Mrs. Bigelow listened to the tours and the visitor conversations through a floor vent! Afterward, she would comment on the visitors and make corrections to the docents’ narratives.
She told things to Cheryl that she shared only with her and gave advice freely. Cheryl learned well from Mrs. Bigelow and she learned to fine-tune the tours to her audience.
For many years, Cheryl served one Sunday per month. If she anticipated working alone in the building, Doran would go with her and sit, reading a book. He didn’t volunteer himself but supported her.
Active in the Community
Cheryl is an active community member and was recognized last summer for 30+ years supporting cardiac patients through Mended Hearts of Thurston County. She was on the board of the Northeast Neighborhood Association for many years. She also led a special troop in the Pacific Peaks Girl Scouts Council called the Troop for Wider Opportunities; an exciting highlight was a trip escorting the girls on a one-month visit to Switzerland. They still get together for reunions after 43 years. Also a square dancer, Cheryl gets together with former square dance organization members for lunch monthly.
How Now House
The two-story home, over its long existence, has been updated periodically and even remodeled with apartments for family members. While the kitchen remains a “modern” 1950s-era upgrade, the rest of the house has now been taken back to its Victorian-era self.
A warning, don’t try to donate an antique to the house. Unlike any other museum I have visited, only possessions from the Bigelow family’s tenure are included. No outside artifacts! Some items have gone back and forth to the still-remaining family members in Olympia and Seattle, but everything within is a stick of furniture, a picture, book, dish, musical instrument, or knickknack originally within. To visit this house is to sense how one family lived through history. Most other historic houses have been sold, with furniture and all the estate auctioned off. Later, in recovery, it is lucky when even a few items are returned. Where else in the nation can you find such a place as the Bigelow House Museum?
Newly Restored
The house is closed now and has been throughout the pandemic. But the time has been used wisely to make exciting renovations, improving the historic building inside and out and adding new rooms for public display through grants and donations. Interior designer David Bettencourt Goularte, spouse of Ruthann Panowicz Goularte and owner of Drees, a prominent Olympia retail store, has guided the voluntary organization to make the house appear as it did in the early days with planning, designing, and hands-on work. The décor has been returned further back to its Victorian past. Also, the house now contains startling and larger-than-life 2-D cutouts of early family members and the famous 1871 dinner guest, Susan B. Anthony. She is posed amidst the slight clutter of the Victorian-era furniture and décor, with the hallmark bric-à-brac and curios.
Reopening
This writer had a sneak preview of the changes within. I was especially delighted to “see” the former residents (and Susan B. Anthony) inside the house! The volunteers have taken the home decor delightfully to its Victorian heyday, and they are now developing a new tour to fascinate visitors. Cheryl Hougham is excited to return as a docent after the three-year pandemic hiatus. Look for a house reopening announcement, in the month of April this year! Visit the Bigelow House Museum website by clicking here.
Interested in volunteering? Send an email to: bigelowhousemuseum@gmail.com
Shirley Stirling, of Lacey, writes about good things people in Thurston County are doing. If you’d like to nominate someone to be profiled, contact her at shirley@theJOLTnews.com or comment below.
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