Port Angeles, Washington is an ideal base for a lot of our summer adventures. About an hour drive northeast and we arrived in Port Townsend for a day trip.
Port Townsend
Port Townsend has a long saga of soaring dreams, bitter disappointments, near death, and gradual rebirth. Located on the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula, near where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets Admiralty Inlet, the future town site was home to a band of the Klallam Tribe and smaller groups from other tribes. The first non-Indian settlers arrived in 1851, and Port Townsend became Puget Sound’s Customs Port of Entry and a bustling port. Local business owners and citizens invested their fortunes hoping to entice rail companies to choose Port Townsend for their terminal. Hopes were dashed when Portland and Tacoma were named the transcontinental line terminals. With World Wars came soldiers and families to nearby Fort Worden giving a further boost. It survived years of population loss and economic stagnation before the economy was stabilized by the opening of a paper mill in 1928.
Today it’s a very touristy place with a bustling downtown of shops, restaurants, and bars. Historical Victorian houses and gardens line the hilly streets and the harbor hums with activity. We walked around town and then headed over to Fort Worden and Wilson Point Lighthouse to explore.
We hiked up the steps to see the Fire Bell Tower is a 75-foot wooden structure built in 1890 to hold a 1,500 pound brass bell and the city’s then-new $900 fire engine. The ringing bell rallied the community to fight fires, and provide a coded signal as to the location and severity of the blaze using a system of alarm boxes. The bell tower was also used for fog soundings for the ferry dock below until the early 1960s.
Fort Worden
Fort Worden was an active United States Army base from 1902 to 1953, constructed to protect Puget Sound from invasion by sea. In its intended role, Fort Worden was obsolete soon after construction: the rapid advance in warship and gunnery design, as well as the advent of aircraft quickly made fixed artillery positions ineffective and greatly diminished the role of coastal artillery in national defense.
The oldest building on the post is Alexander’s Castle, a brick residence built in 1883 by Reverend John Barrow Alexander which pre-dates the military presence. The building is very striking against the backdrop of green grass and white fort buildings. These days it is available for nightly rentals.
We walked around the parade grounds, down officer’s row and around the battery area. Check out the GIANT madrone tree on the grounds!
Point Wilson Lighthouse
Point Wilson’s first lighthouse was built in 1879 by the United States Lighthouse Service. In 1904, landfill was added to the site in an effort to protect the station, but time and tide having worked their destructive effects. Eventually a new lighthouse was commissioned. Completed in 1914, the new lighthouse was built of reinforced concrete with a 46-foot octagonal tower designed to withstand the wind. The Point Wilson Light is an active aid to navigation. It is one of the most important navigational aids in the state overlooking the entrance to Admiralty Inlet, the waterway connecting the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound.
We walked to the lighthouse and then along the beach and around the batteries.
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