A Fall City collector's item: Historical Society to sell Hop Shed glasses, celebrate stories this holiday season

Every holiday season, the Fall City Historical Society sets up shop at the local holiday bazaar, shares its mission and memories—and in the process, creates a new collector's item.

This year, the item in question is a beverage glass showing a local historic icon: The 1888 Fall City Hop Shed.

Pioneer George Rutherford built the shed at a landing on the Snoqualmie River, a short distance upstream from Fall City. It was used to dry hops, an herb used in beer brewing, during that crop's heyday in the Northwest.

After the market for hops crashed, the shed was sold and later moved to its current location in Fall City Park. Few people get a chance to explore the structure—sometimes, historical society volunteers host tours during Fall City Days—but you can still see the shed, and walk up for close look, at the park.

The Hop Shed glass is the latest addition to the society's "History in Your Hand" series. The four historical coffee mugs produced in recent years proved very popular.

Items from the collection will also be on display during Fall City's Holiday Market, Saturday, Dec. 3. A new society laptop will show a slideshow of school class photos from Fall City's past.

The society is also selling the 2012 Fall City Calendary, and is celebrating the anniversary of the publication of Preserving the Stories of Fall City, which is in its second printing.

You can learn more about the Fall City Historical Society on Facebook and at www.fallcity.org/historical. Or, e-mail to fallcityhistorical@juno.com.

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