Washington's Historic Sites
Washington's Historic Sites encompass a diverse array of locations that reflect the state's rich cultural, military, and industrial history. Notable sites include Fort Nisqually Granary, which is the only remaining Hudson's Bay Company structure in the U.S., serving as a vital trading post in the 19th century. The San Juan Island National Historic Park features both American and English Camps, significant for their role in the "Pig War" boundary dispute. The state is home to the Adventuress, a historic schooner yacht recognized for its design and contribution to maritime navigation. Other important sites include the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, pivotal during World War II for repairs to the Pacific Fleet, and Marmes Rockshelter, an archaeological site revealing ancient human activity in the region. The Paradise Inn at Mount Rainier showcases rustic architecture and is linked to early ski resort culture. These sites together illustrate Washington's exploration, settlement, and industrial growth while highlighting the state's multifaceted historical narrative.
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Washington's Historic Sites
Adventuress
Location: Seattle, King County
Relevant issues: Naval history
Statement of significance: A schooner yacht and pilot boat, Adventuress is a significant example of the “fisherman profile” design of the yachts of Bowdoin B. Crowninshield, a noted early twentieth century American naval architect whose work was influential in the development of American yachts and fishing schooners. Built (1913) for the purpose of private Arctic exploration and hunting, Adventuress was acquired by the San Francisco Bar Pilots in 1914 and worked until 1952 as a pilot boat, guiding maritime traffic across the treacherous San Francisco Bar into the internationally important and busy port of San Francisco.
American and English Camps, San Juan Island
Location: Friday Harbor vicinity, San Juan County
Relevant issues: Political history, western expansion
Statement of significance: These sites are associated with the conflict about the water boundary between Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the U.S. Oregon Territory, including the “Pig War of 1859,” when hostilities almost began between Americans and the British. The 1871 Treaty of Washington provided for a peaceful settlement of this dispute.
Arthur Foss
Location: Kirkland, King County
Relevant issues: Business and industry, military history, naval history, World War II
Statement of significance: Built in 1889, Arthur Foss is the only known wooden-hulled nineteenth century tugboat left afloat and in operating condition in the United States. It towed lumber and grain-laden square-rigged ships across the treacherous Columbia River and hence was a key participant in the Pacific coast lumber trade and the international grain trade. While under charter to the U.S. Navy, Arthur Foss was the last vessel to escape Wake Island successfully before Imperial Japanese forces attacked and captured that Pacific outpost in 1942.
Chinook Point
Location: Chinook, Pacific County
Relevant issues: Western expansion
Statement of significance: Captain Robert Gray’s May, 1792, discovery of the Columbia River at Chinook Point gave the United States a strong claim to the Pacific Northwest, a claim which was long disputed by Great Britain.
Fireboat No. 1
Location: Tacoma, Pierce County
Relevant issues: Naval history
Statement of significance:Fireboat No. 1, built (1929) and operated only on Puget Sound, is representative of most fireboats built prior to World War II throughout the United States. One of ten fireboats greater than fifty years of age left in the United States and one of the few remaining 1920s fireboats, it is the least modified, has not undergone extensive modernization, and is well preserved. Today it is a monument and museum.
Fort Nisqually Granary
Location: Tacoma, Pierce County
Relevant issues: Western expansion
Statement of significance: The fort was the first permanent Anglo-American settlement on Puget Sound, serving as a communications and supply center for other trading posts. The fort’s one-story granary, built in 1843 of log construction, and the Factor’s House are the only surviving original examples of Hudson’s Bay Company buildings still standing in the United States. Moved in 1934 from their original site to Point Defiance Park, today both the granary and Factor’s House are restored and open to the public.
Lightship No. 83 “Relief”
Location: Kirkland, King County
Relevant issues: Naval history
Statement of significance: Known by its last official designation, Relief, No. 83 was built (1905) to serve as one of the first four lightships on the Pacific coast. It served to guide mariners to three major ports—Eureka on Humboldt Bay, San Francisco, and Seattle. No. 83 and its sister are the earliest surviving examples of American lightships.
Marmes Rockshelter
Location: Lyons Ferry, Franklin County
Relevant issues: American Indian history
Statement of significance: This is the most outstanding archaeological site yet discovered in the Northwest. Excavations at the site have revealed the earliest burials in the Pacific Northwest (c. 5500-4500 B.C.E.) and possibly the oldest human remains yet encountered in the Western Hemisphere (c. 11,000-9,000 B.C.E.). The eight strata at the site all contain cultural materials.
Paradise Inn
Location: Mount Rainier National Park, Pierce County
Relevant issues: Art and architecture, cultural history
Statement of significance: A rustic hotel with furnishings in the lobby that have a handcrafted artistry and Gothic feeling reminiscent of northern European woodwork. Built in 1916 on a smaller scale than the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park, it was part of one of the earliest ski resorts in the United States.
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Location: Bremerton, Kitsap County
Relevant issues: Military history, naval history, World War II
Statement of significance: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was the principal repair establishment for the U.S. Navy’s battle-damaged battleships and aircraft carriers, as well as smaller warships, of the Pacific Fleet during World War II. Five of the eight battleships bombed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, were repaired at the shipyard and returned to duty. During the war, the shipyard repaired twenty-six battleships (some more than once), eighteen aircraft carriers, thirteen cruisers, and seventy-nine destroyers; in addition, fifty ships were built or fitted out at the yard. More than thirty thousand workers built, fitted out, repaired, overhauled, or modernized nearly four hundred fighting ships here between 1941 and 1945.
Seattle Electric Company Georgetown Steam Plant
Location: Seattle, King County
Relevant issues: Business and industry, science and technology
Statement of significance: Erected from 1906 to 1908, this reinforced concrete building houses the last operational examples of the Curtis vertical steam turbogenerator, the first type of large-scale steam turbine developed. This new technology established General Electric as a leader in the manufacture of steam turbines. The plant also exemplifies facets of the history of urban power use and development.
"Adventuress." Tall Ships America, 2024, tallshipsamerica.org/vessels/adventuress/. Accessed 4 June 2024.
"Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility." Naval Sea Systems Command, 2024, www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Shipyards/PSNS-IMF/. Accessed 4 June 2024.
"Washington." National Park Service, www.nps.gov/state/wa/index.ht. Accessed 5 June 2024.