By Rachel Baker
Puget Sound is a diverse marine habitat with significant ecological, cultural, and economic importance for people all across Washington. Although there are slight discrepancies among definitions, simply put, a sound is a narrow passage of water…

By Deanna Bugel
James Theodore Geoghegan (1869-1953) spent time throughout the West coast during his life as he spent portions of his life in California, Washington, and Alaska. After leaving England with his family as a child, Geoghegan spent much of his childhood…

By Rachel Baker
Spanish naval officer Francisco de Eliza led several expeditions through the Pacific Northwest in the late 1700s to explore the area’s rich ecosystems, and visited the San Juan island chain in 1791. The Viceroy of Mexico commissioned this particular…

By Clairessa Walker
Today we may take post offices for granted, but soon after they were first instituted following the Revolutionary War, post offices often became the hubs of civilization on the American frontier. As post offices were few and far between settlers…

By Tom Welch
Dancing was historically a very significant form of community entertainment on Orcas Island, and dancing remains popular to this day. Dance halls were built in many island communities, including Doe Bay, Olga, Orcas, West Sound, and Deer Harbor. In…

By Clairessa Walker
Sea and sun bathing at Crescent Beach have been favorite pastimes for Orcas Islanders for generations. Just east of Eastsound, Crescent Beach is located in Ships Bay. Today the beach is part of a 130+ acre conservation area that provides a haven for…

By Clairessa Walker
History is felt perhaps nowhere more deeply on Orcas Island than at Madrona Point. Named for the swaths of Madrona trees that line the 30 acre point, the land here is sacred. Used as a burial ground by the Lummi people from time immemorial, Madrona…

By Clairessa Walker
The Kangaroo House is one of the oldest continuous lodgings for travelers in the San Juans, having now been in use for over 100 years. Built in 1907, this craftsman style bungalow was originally known as the Aloha House or the Aloha Hotel. It got its…

By Clairessa Walker
The historical Donohue House is known today as the Golden Tree Inn & Hostel. Built by master carpenter Michael Donohue the house was originally part of his 180 acre homestead. Donohue was a Civil War veteran, he and his family settled on Orcas…

By Clairessa Walker
Known over the years by many names, including Eastsound Hotel, Eastsound House, Mt. Constitution Inn, and the Beach Hotel, today this charming house is known as the Outlook Inn. Built in the late 1800s by Charles Shattuck, the Inn began its life as…

By Clairessa Walker
No story of the islands’ aviation history would be complete without mention of Roy Franklin. Originally a military pilot, Roy returned to Washington State after serving in WWII and soon became an air taxi pilot operating in San Juan County. His taxi…

By Tom Welch
Early visitors to Orcas Island were often as impressed by the lack of saloons, and the related mischief usually pertaining to these establishments, as they were by the pastoral beauty of the island. Friday Harbor and San Juan Island had a deserved…

By Clairessa Walker
The little island nestled in Fishing Bay on the southern end of Eastsound has been known by several different names over the years. The most shocking of its titles was “Jap Island.” In fact, the name was even recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Land…

By Clairessa Walker
The Orcas Island Historical Museums consist of the Historical Museum (located at 181 North Beach Road) and the Crow Valley Schoolhouse Museum (located at 1668 Crow Valley Road). The Historical Museum in Eastsound is out of six historic cabins and one…

By Tom Welch
Native peoples living on Orcas Island and the surrounding islands were not year-round residents so much as they were occasional occupants taking advantage of the local seasonal bounties. Long-established tribal lore included knowledge of the salmon…

By Angel L. Rios
In 1872, the British Royal Marines abandoned their campsite, known as English Camp, along the eastern side of Garrison Bay on San Juan Island in Washington Territory. Word of the prime real estate spread to the pioneer couple William and Mary Crook…

By Whitney Wyngaert
Sea otters are the smallest of the marine mammals found on the West Coast, but don’t let their size fool you: some male sea otters can weigh up to 99 lbs. Sea otters rely on their thick fur to keep them warm while out to sea. With 150,000 strands of…

By Jen Hughes
General George Pickett is perhaps best known for his time in the Confederate Army, but his military career did not begin at Gettysburg. Assigned to command Company D on San Juan Island, Captain Pickett arrived at the San Juan Islands in July 1859 and…

By Whitney Wyngaert
Lime Kiln Point State Park, on Washington’s San Juan Island, is a prime location for exploring the beauty of Washington and a chance to see migrating orcas. Close to the rocky shoreline, the seafloor quickly drops off which allows whales like orcas…

By Corey Horn
You made it! Here on the top of Young Hill, you are 650 feet above the Salish Sea. Note the long, vertical scratches on the bedrock at your feet. These were made by Ice Age glaciers dragging boulders over the top of the island thousands of years ago.…

By David Sommer
The San Juans, with its many islands and hidden, sheltered bays, located between Canada and the United States, have long attracted smugglers. And for almost as long, federal authorities have sought to enforce the law on these waters. Congress…

By Scott Ward
On April 15, 1903, as the steamship Clallam launched for the first time in Tacoma, Washington the woman who swung the bottle of champagne at her bow missed and the American flag unfurled upside down. The SS Clallam was off to a rocky start that would…

By Scott Ward
Forty-nine-year-old Richard Straub had been a local educator for more than a decade in the Puget Sound/Salish Sea area when he committed one of the more gruesome crimes in the history of the San Juans. On August 30, 1895, Straub enlisted the aid of…

By Jessica L Bell
In 1904, shipbuilding magnate and twice elected mayor of Seattle, Robert Moran, was told by doctors that he had a heart condition and had six months to live. After a trip to Europe where he consulted with other medical professionals and read medical…

By David Sommer
In October 1891 Captain Tozier, commander of the Revenue Cutter the U.S. Grant, was in search of smugglers in the San Juan Islands. A canny and experienced officer, Tozier set up a sting operation near a suspected smuggler's cabin. Several of his men…

By David Sommer
The boldness of the Japanese surprise attack in 1941 shocked Americans, and some wondered if the West Coast itself was vulnerable. In the days before radar, only human observation could detect an incoming aerial assault. The US government mobilized…

By Whitney Wyngaert
The nesting habits of marbled murrelets were unknown to scientists until an accidental sighting in the 1970s. In 1974, by sheer luck, a Big Basin State Park maintenance worker spotted an odd little bird with webbed feet sitting in an old-growth tree.…

By Scott Ward
Sitting at the center of Orcas Island in the San Juans of Washington state is a tiny peninsula that juts into East Sound. Now known as Madrona Point, the Lummi nation has deep ties to this land. Madrona Point is where the Lummi buried their people…

By Kelli Knerr
Working for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had its advantages and Camp Moran was no exception. The CCC wanted to give the men every opportunity to improve themselves, both physically and mentally. Life in camp included recreation like baseball…

By Kelli Knerr
At Moran State Park, the roads, trails, and the tower on Mt. Constitution did not just appear. They were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. But who were the Civilian Conservation Corps? The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established…