Whidbey Island is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington State. Whidbey is about 30 miles (48 km) north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor of western Washington. The island forms the northern boundary of Puget Sound. It is home to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. The state parks and natural forests are home to numerous old growth trees.
Island County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 86,857. Its county seat is Coupeville, while its largest city is Oak Harbor.
Coupeville is a town on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington, United States.
Keystone is a small unincorporated community on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, in the northwestern United States. It is near the Coupeville Ferry Landing, a dock for the Washington State Ferries route to Port Townsend that provides a maritime link for State Route 20 across Admiralty Inlet. It is located about 3 miles due south of Coupeville near Fort Casey State Park and Ebey's Prairie National Historic Preserve.
USS Massachusetts was a steamer built in 1845 and acquired by the U.S. War Department in 1847. She was used by the U.S. Army as a transport during the Mexican–American War before being transferred to U.S. Navy Department in 1849. She traveled widely, including transiting Cape Horn several times as part of her official duties on both sides of the Americas. During her years of service she spent most of her time on the west coast of North America.
Granville Owen Haller was a noted Indian fighter, United States Army officer, and wealthy postbellum businessman who settled in northwest Washington state. During the American Civil War, he was charged with the defense of south-central Pennsylvania during the early days of Gettysburg Campaign prior to the arrival of the Army of the Potomac.
Port Gamble is an unincorporated community on the northwestern shore of the Kitsap Peninsula in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is also a small, eponymous bay, along which the community lies, near the entrance to Hood Canal. The unincorporated communities of Port Gamble and Little Boston, part of Kitsap County, lie on the west and the east side, respectively, of the mouth of this bay. The Port Gamble Historic District, a U.S. National Historic Landmark, covers one of the nation's best-preserved western lumber towns.
Colonel Isaac Neff Ebey was the first permanent white resident of Whidbey Island, Washington.
Fort Casey State Park is located on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington state. It is a Washington state park and a historic district within the U.S. Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve.
The Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) is a 1200-mile hiking trail running from the Continental Divide in Montana to the Pacific Ocean on Washington's Olympic Coast. Along the way, the PNT crosses three national parks, seven national forests, and two other national scenic trails. It travels against the grain of several mountain ranges, including the Continental Divide, Whitefish Divide, Purcells, Selkirks, Kettles, Cascades, and Olympics. It was designated as the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail by Congress in 2009.
Naval Outlying Landing Field Coupeville—or NOLF Coupeville—(ICAO: KNRA, FAA LID: NRA) is a military airport located two miles (3 km) southeast of Coupeville, Washington, in Island County. The airfield is owned and operated by the United States Navy. NOLF Coupeville nearly touches State Route 20 and is about 10 miles south of the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.
The Lower Skagit are a tribe of the Lushootseed Native American people living in the U.S. state of Washington. Today they are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe, the Swinomish Indians of the Swinomish Reservation.
Fort Ebey State Park is a public recreation area occupying the site of former Fort Ebey on the west side of Whidbey Island, five miles (8.0 km) west of Coupeville in Island County, Washington, United States. The state park covers 651 acres (263 ha) overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and lies within the Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve. It is managed by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.
One of the oldest residential buildings in Washington, the Ferry House was built in 1860 by Winfield Scott Ebey as an inn to provide financial stability for his brother's children, who were orphaned when Isacc Neff Ebey was brutally murdered and beheaded by Canadian natives. Once completed and opened for business, the building was named The Ebey Inn. The prime location across Admiralty Inlet from Port Townsend meant a steady flow of travelers and income for the three Ebey children. With no other nearby accommodations, the Inn — which housed a post office, a tavern, and rooms for overnight guests — quickly became an important place for sailors and other travelers to rest before continuing their journeys to Coupeville, Whidbey Island, La Conner, Washington, and points further north. Travelers and locals could also purchase merchandise and groceries at the Inn, which served ferry traffic to and from Port Townsend until a new ferry dock was constructed near Fort Casey at the turn of the 20th century. The house stayed in the Ebey family for 57 years, until Isaac Ebey's grandson sold the old Inn in 1917.
The Sergeant Clark House, built in 1892, is a Vernacular style farmhouse located in Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve in Coupeville on Whidbey Island, Washington. The Queen Anne Style—Eastlake movement architecture represents application of structural detail and ornamentation, and an early period of community growth.
Captain Thomas Coupe was a ship's captain and early settler of Whidbey Island.
Admiralty Inlet Natural Area Preserve in Island County, Washington is part of the Washington Natural Areas Program. It lies along Admiralty Inlet within Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve on land owned by the Whidbey Camano Land Trust with a conservation easement owned by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Admiralty Inlet NAP is home to one of only 11 remaining populations of golden paintbrush, a flowering plant listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The preserve's 46 acres (19 ha) includes old-growth forest, a rare remnant prairie, and shoreline.
The Battle of Port Gamble was an isolated engagement between the United States and the Tlingit. It occurred during, but was not a part of, the Yakima War. Though a minor incident, it is historically notable for the first U.S. Navy battle death in the Pacific Ocean.
Carl W. Leick was an architect who worked in the Northwest of the United States. He designed structures for 25 sites on the West Coast, including the Turn Point (1893), Patos (1908), and Lime Kiln (1914) lighthouses.
Glacial erratic boulders in Island County are a remnant of the Pleistocene glaciation that created Puget Sound and transformed the surfaces of what are now Island County's main landmasses: Whidbey Island and Camano Island. South of Deception Pass, the two islands' surfaces and beaches are completely composed of glacial till. Abundant glacial erratic boulders lie on the islands, their beaches, and under the near-shore waters.
