FORKS — Walking into the storage shed of Ted Spoelstra is like entering another time.
Perfectly preserved antique tractors, cars, steam engines, music machines, gas pumps, signs, timber equipment and other practical objects rest from floor to ceiling in a 60-foot by 80-foot metal building with a security system.
The extensive collection has taken Spoelstra more than 60 years to accumulate and is overwhelming at first glance.
“I think it is important to preserve history,” he said.
“I collect what I think is interesting — there is really no rhyme or reason to it. I have a little bit of everything.”
Although many Forks residents have viewed the collection privately Spoelstra, 84, rarely opens it to the public.
This Saturday is one of those rare times.
After officials from the North Olympic Timber Action Committee approached Spoelstra about opening the collection to raise money for the organization’s scholarship fund he agreed “because it was for a good cause.”
The private museum located on Klahn Road, just off U.S. Highway 101 three miles outside Forks, will be open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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The rest of the story appears in the Friday/Saturday Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition. Click on SUBSCRIBE to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
