QUILCENE — After years of planning and labor, the Worthington Mansion volunteers will celebrate the grand opening of the restored building, the newest old hotel on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The ribbon cutting is set for 2 p.m. today at the mansion in Worthington Park, 151 W. Columbia St., in Quilcene.
“All of the volunteers who have ever worked on the project and the donors also are invited,” said Brian Cullin, communications director for the Quilcene Historical Museum, which owns the mansion. So far, the ribbon-cutting has gathered 140 RSVPs, Cullin said Thursday.
“I imagine we will get more than that,” he said. “We’re counting on probably a few hundred.”
From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, the public will be invited to tour the mansion, which is expected to be open for overnight stays sometime in June.
“It’s the first opening since the restoration was complete,” Cullin said, adding that other tours showed work in progress.
It’s unique on the North Olympic Peninsula, he said: a restored Victorian mansion in a rural area.
“The detail work is really remarkable,” he said.
The $1.6 million restoration of the 13-room structure took more than 43,000 volunteer hours. Funds were fairly evenly divided between private donors from fundraising efforts and funds from agencies, Cullin said.
“We’ve always operated in the black,” he said.
Once it is opened for overnight stays, the full facility will be booked for between $375 and $500 a night. The 13 rooms include four bedrooms — the place can sleep eight people — and two baths. It is ADA-accessible. Proceeds will benefit the museum.
In attendance at today’s ribbon-cutting are expected to be Christine Satterlee, who chairs the museum’s board of directors, and Carol Christensen, director of fundraising for the museum.
Also expected there are the two children of Eileen Worthington, who sold her house to the Quilcene Historical Museum. Jim and Ellen Worthington have worked to restore the house they grew up in since work began in 2015 and have served as both donors and volunteers, Cullin said.
The museum purchased the entire 10 acres — which included the mansion, barn and several outbuildings — in 2013.
The museum board hoped to establish an event center.
At the time, “it was so overgrown that many members of the community didn’t even know it was there,” Cullin said.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
