Siuslaw Pioneer Museum

To fill yourself in on the early history of Florence [1] and the Siuslaw River valley, and to get some notion of Native American and pioneer life, spend an hour or so at the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum (278 Maple St., Florence, 541/997-7884, noon–4 p.m. Tues.–Sun. Feb.–Thanksgiving, $3 adults). You’ll find it in Old Town in a renovated school building from 1905.

Along with exhibits on early logging and farming, read an account of how the U.S. government double-crossed the Siuslaw people, who sold their land to the feds and never received the promised recompense.