The Montana Historical Society opened its new gift shop on Thursday, sporting a roomy interior that blends the warmth of a ski-lodge with the charm of a pioneer cabin.

Months in the making, the $21,000 remodel incorporates hand-hewn logs and mossy granite stones pried from the frozen earth in the dead of winter.

“Hauling the logs was the fun part,” said Todd Saarinen, museum preparator. “I did that with a snowmobile and a log arch on skis I used behind my sled. The hard part was hewing the logs. I had a short time to do this and, of course, a budget.”

Saarinen cut beetle-killed, lodgepole pines on his property. The remodel, he said, incorporated nearly 40 logs and six tons of stone, requiring 11 trips to the museum.

“I just wanted a small fireplace, the kind you can pick up and move,” said Sherry Jonckheere, the gift shop manager who oversaw the remodel. “I walked in one day and there were boulders all over the floor.”

Jonckheere, who praised Saarinen for his vision and craftsmanship, was asked during her interview last July what she might do with the space if given a chance to craft it.

The 1,000-square-foot room, which once served as the end of the Montana Homeland exhibit, sat empty for a while. The original gift shop filled the adjacent room, but at less than 500 square feet, it was overcrowded and difficult to navigate.

Now, visitors who pass through the Montana Homeland exhibit emerge in the new gift shop. With its Montana-crafted gifts and books, Jonckheere hopes it prompts shoppers to linger and spend some money.

“I wanted to get away from the plaster walls,” said Jonckheere. “We’ve got so much artwork, as soon as you move something you have to patch the hole and repaint. I knew if we started pounding in nails and pulling them out of a log wall, it’s just going to look better.”

Employees spent Thursday morning reviewing inventory and pricing items. Charlie Russell prints adorn one wall while historic Montana travel posters cover another.

Books fill the shelves in a distant corner. Reading chairs will soon be added and tables for future book signings.

Along with the historic art reproductions hanging throughout the shop, Jonckheere hopes to display original pieces by living Montana artists. The store walks the line between a gift shop and a gallery — the very look Jonckheere was going for.

“They’ve never really done much as far as original artwork,” she said. “That goes in the same vein as the pottery and the art glass. I want to start making those connections and networking to local artists, and getting that kind of stuff on the walls.”

Staff members at the Historical Society helped make the move. When the doors opened Thursday, surprised shoppers embraced Charlie Russell-branded coffee, an expanded book collection, and Montana-crafted jewelry.

“The space is good,” said store employee JoAnn Meredith. “The other store, you’d get five customers in there and nobody could move around or see things. I think this will be a much better shopping experience for people.”

Reporter Martin Kidston: 447-4086 or mkidston@helenair.com