Joan Handy bustled around the Island County Historical Society Museum for the Saturday opening of “Our Towns.”

Handy is volunteer curator of the new exhibit. She worked with a team of volunteers for the past six months to develop “Our Towns” from artifacts in the museum’s collection.

Visitors will be able to travel back in time when they stroll through “Our Towns,” an exhibit that chronicles life on Whidbey Island from the mid-to-late 19th Century until the present day.

“We want to present the Island County towns, the early families and the objects that anyone might have had in their home,” Handy said.

Some areas highlighted are Clinton, Maxwelton, Bayview, Langley, Freeland, Greenbank, Coupeville, San de Fuca, Oak Harbor and Deception Pass. 

The volunteers are putting the finishing touches on 10 albums that will be placed throughout the exhibit. For instance, the Oak Harbor book features a synopsis of the city’s history gleaned from history books, oral accounts and pioneer diaries. The album is illustrated with photos from the museum’s collection.

“We plan for the exhibit to be up for the next two years, so it’s still evolving,” said Cynthia Gass Johnson, the museum’s executive director.

Items will be added and subtracted, special events and related exhibits are part of what’s planned, Johnson said.

“We are showing things from the collection that haven’t been shown in a while,” Johnson said.

Examples of early 1900s lifestyles are depicted in mini-rooms — a fully-furnished parlor, child’s playroom, kitchen and a complete set of enamel bathing apparatus that includes a sit-down tub.

A vintage organ in the parlor exhibit was donated to the museum by Dorothy Neil, a former president of the county historical association and columnist for the Whidbey News-Times.

A music book is propped up on the organ, just as if someone could sit down and play “Where the Waves of Jan de Fuca Kiss the Sands of Whidbey Isle.”

As cutting timber was a common way of making a living on the islands in the late 1800s and the early 1900s, one display is entirely logging equipment and old photos, she said.

Shingles recently removed from the Roller Barn in Oak Harbor are displayed. They were produced in Clinton by the Salisbury Brothers at the turn of the 20th century.

Another display features farming artifacts, including the Hancock family’s swing churn to make butter and turn it into gold by shipping it to neighboring counties.

“It was our first export,” Handy said.

One display features photos, report cards and other school items from the 23 school districts that dotted the island in the early days.

The details of life at the dawn of the 20th Century are sure to delight the 2,000 or more students who are scheduled to visit the museum during the year on field trips.

Museum volunteers and staff are taking every step to make visiting “Our Towns” equally enjoyable for other visitors.

“We hope people can stay awhile. There’s a lot to see,” Johnson said.