Category: Places to take visitors

Port Townsend's Victorians

The Victorian architecture of Port Townsend is real eye candy. Many of the buildings were completed in the late 1890s and the two I’ll show you today were both the work of architect Elmer H. Fisher. Fisher was a Scotsman who designed a number of Port Townsend buildings starting around 1887 and simultaneously opened an office in Seattle, where he designed more than 50 buildings immediately after Seattle’s great fire of 1889.

The Hastings Building, above, was built at a cost of $35,000 to $45,000 and completed in 1890. It has a 38-foot inner courtyard topped with a glass skylight and has housed businesses from dry goods to a reputed bordello. Today the ground floor houses retail businesses and the upper floors are not occupied. Descendents of the original family still own the building and are working on an ambitious restoration of the structure.

Here is another Elmer H. Fisher design, the N.D. Hill Building. This $25,000 building has been maintained and kept in near original condition. Like the Hastings Building above, it has a skylighted interior courtyard. In the late 1920s this building was the DeVillo Hotel and rooms ran from 75 cents to $1.25 a night. The upper floors today are the location of the Water Street Hotel. Rooms run a bit more, but they’re pretty reasonable by today’s standards.

Both of the buildings I’ve shown today back up to Port Townsend Bay and share Water Street with buildings of the same vintage Victorian architecture. There is an interesting mix of small shops, galleries, boutiques, and restaurants. There are historic “ghost signs” on the brick walls of many buildings, some of which I posted here on Monday.

In the 1960s Port Townsend expanded its small boat building industry. Tomorrow I’ll visit PT’s saltier side.

Port Townsend – City of Dreams

If you want a day trip from Sequim that offers a look at Victorian Washington, some retail grazing, a maritime fix, or just a meal somewhere else, Port Townsend is a great option.

European settlement in Port Townsend, or “PT,” began in early 1851. PT’s downtown heart is Water Street alongside Port Townsend Bay, which is in view from much of downtown. PT was a well-situated seaport in the latter half of the 1800s, with an economy based on marine trade to the growing Puget Sound region. It rivaled San Francisco in its prospects as a growth center and early speculation was that it would be the largest harbor on the West Coast. A railroad network was expected to fuel further economic growth. By the late 1800s the city had many beautiful homes and buildings in the era’s ornate Victorian style.

The James and Hastings Building, above, is sited where the first log cabin was built in PT in 1851. The cabin was later replaced first by a dry goods store and in 1889 by the James and Hastings Building. This building was completed around the time that the bright future planned for PT dimmed. A depression in the late 1800s bankrupted over a quarter of U.S. railroads and the Northern Pacific Railroad failed to connect PT to Tacoma. Port Townsend lost much of its population and the local economy relied on fishing, port activities (including shanghaiing!), canning, and the miliary located at nearby Fort Worden. A paper mill built in the 1920s infused the economy with new purpose.

Tomorrow I’ll take a look at two other examples of Port Townsend’s Victorian architecture.

Ghost signs

A week ago a post on cAt Picture/Day about ghost signs reminded me of the sign, above, in Port Townsend, one of my favorite day trips from Sequim. Ghost signs or brick ads are relics of advertising painted on brick buildings that survive over time. Early signage of this sort began in the 1890s, which coincides with the boom period of downtown Port Townsend.

I saw this wall in the early 1980s on my first visit to Port Townsend. Over the years, though I didn’t have many visual memories of the town I remembered this sign vividly and I have a film image of it somewhere.

The two best surviving ghost signs that I found last Friday were for tobacco. Considering tobacco’s historic place in the U.S. economy I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that they’re both large and durable, though it looks as if Owl’s pricing may have changed over time.

I’ll post more pictures from my trip to Port Townsend later this week.

Best of the Peninsula – Golf

Cedars at Dungeness was named the best local golf course in last year’s “Best of the Peninsula” poll by the Peninsula Daily News.

I’m not a golfer, the but course looks well groomed and has beautiful views. A pro shop serves the golfer’s needs. There’s a bar and grill, Stymie’s, that serves good food all day and into the evening, and a restaurant, Cedars at Dungeness, for a more upscale dining experience.


The golf course and restaurants are another business venture of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. So, of course, there is a totem pole. This one includes – what else? – a golf club. And a golfer friend points out golfing references to eagles and birdies carved into the pole.

Over the Fence

There are a handful of places in Sequim where it’s as much fun to just browse as it is to shop. Over the Fence, for me, is one of them. They offer a little bit of everything for the home and garden.

I was drawn to their colorful displays on a gloomy winter day. And, based on the roar of laughter, other shoppers enjoyed their selection of humorous greeting cards.

Among many other things, the teapots were hard to resist. But the very sweet and friendly store dog, George, a little dachshund, helped soothe my regrets.

Theme Day – Action shot


City Daily Photo’s Theme Day today is “Action shot.” This barrel racing photo was taken at the Rodeo at Clallam County Fair in August. I loved this competition and the beautiful teamwork of horse and rider. If you’d like to see other action shots from this event, click here. Other events included bareback riding and bull riding.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Eagle watch


What’s not to like about staying next door to a national wildlife refuge? The New Dungeness Light Station borders on the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge that is visited by over 250 species of birds, 41 species of land mammals, and eight species of marine mammals. We regularly saw three eagles that ranged about on the south side of the Light Station grounds and I was told by one volunteer that sightings can range up to a dozen at a time. Not too shabby!

The wildlife seems to know the boundaries of the Light Station and generally kept well beyond the signs that keep visitors out of the 631 acre refuge. Our best sightings were airborne.

There are two favored perches beyond the boundaries of the light station, both of which made me envy the 400 mm. lenses of friends.