San de Fuca is an unincorporated community and geographical location on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, United States. [1] Formerly a small town in the 19th century, it lies on the north side of Penn Cove across from Coupeville.
San de Fuca was envisioned as the terminus of a shipping channel across Whidbey Island, which would connect to Anacortes by rail. The site was said in 1890 to have "no possible rival as the most desirable and advantageous point for a general railroad terminus and point of interchange for land and water traffic." [2] The planned canal was ultimately cancelled due to the Panic of 1893. [3] Nonetheless, San de Fuca remained a stop on steamer lines carrying passengers to and from Seattle for several decades. The San de Fuca hotel remained standing until at least 1970, and the historic San de Fuca pier (built 1911) was still standing as of 2014. [4]
Puget Sound is a sound on the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins. A part of the Salish Sea, Puget Sound has one major and two minor connections to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which in turn connects to the open Pacific Ocean. The major connection is Admiralty Inlet; the minor connections are Deception Pass and the Swinomish Channel.
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.
The San Juan Islands is an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of San Juan County.
The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a body of water about 96 miles long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre of the Strait.
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.
Freeland is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, United States. At the time of the 2010 census the population was 7,812. The town received its name based on its origins as a socialist commune in the early 1900s: in the eyes of its founders, the land of the town was literally to be free for all people. Some of the first settlers were veterans of a prior experiment in socialism, the nearby Equality Colony.
Langley is a city in Island County, Washington, United States. It sits at the south end of Whidbey Island, overlooking the Saratoga Passage. The city's population was 1,035 at the 2010 census, while the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) for Langley's post office had a population of 4,878. Langley proper only covers 0.8 square miles (2.1 km2), but its ZCTA extends for 26.20 square miles (67.9 km2).
Keystone is a small unincorporated community on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, in the northwestern United States. It is near the Keystone ferry landing, a dock at Keystone Harbor for the Washington State Ferries' Coupeville to Port Townsend route. The route provides a maritime link for State Route 20 across Admiralty Inlet to the Olympic Peninsula. Since its establishment in the 1930s, the ferry route to Port Townsend was known as the Keystone-Port Townsend Ferry; the name was changed in 2010 at the suggestion of the Central Whidbey Chamber of Commerce in order to avoid confusion from tourists and visitors to Whidbey Island.
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) is a naval air station of the United States Navy located on two pieces of land near Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington.
Bayview is an unincorporated community centered at the intersection of State Route 525 and Bayview Road on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, United States.
Admiralty Inlet is a strait in the U.S. state of Washington connecting the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Puget Sound. It lies between Whidbey Island and the northeastern part of the Olympic Peninsula.
Fidalgo Island is an island in Skagit County, Washington, located about 60 mi (97 km) north of Seattle. To the east, it is separated from the mainland by the Swinomish Channel, and from Whidbey Island to the south by Deception Pass. The island is named after the Spanish explorer and cartographer Salvador Fidalgo, who explored the area in 1790.
Greenbank is an unincorporated community on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, United States.
Washington's 2nd congressional district includes all of Island, San Juan, Skagit, and Whatcom counties, as well as coastal western Snohomish County. It stretches from Bellingham and the Canada–US border in the north down to the Skagit/Snohomish county line, with a narrow strip along the coast running down to Lynnwood and the King/Snohomish county line in the south. Since 2001, it has been represented by Democrat Rick Larsen.
Smith Island is located in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington, about midway between Admiralty Inlet and Lopez Island. It is connected to the smaller Minor Island, to its east, by a low spit that is covered at high tide. The low, grassy islands have a few trees and are an important habitat for seabirds, and the beaches are a resting site for sea lions. The islands are part of the San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and are usually closed to the public.
Rosario Strait is a strait in northern Washington state, separating San Juan County and Skagit and Whatcom Counties. It extends from the Strait of Juan de Fuca about 23 kilometres (14 mi) north to the Strait of Georgia. The USGS defines its southern boundary as a line extending from Point Colville on Lopez Island to Rosario Head on Fidalgo Island, and its northern boundary as a line from Point Migley on Lummi Island to the east tip of Puffin Island and then to Point Thompson on Orcas Island. Rosario Strait runs north-south between Lopez, Decatur, Blakely, and Orcas Islands on the west, and Fidalgo, Cypress, Sinclair, and Lummi Islands on the east.
Saratoga Passage lies in Puget Sound between Whidbey Island and Camano Island.
Skagit Bay is a bay and strait located in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Whidbey Island Basin of Puget Sound. The Skagit River empties into Skagit Bay. To the south, Skagit Bay connects with the rest of Puget Sound via Saratoga Passage and Possession Sound. The boundary between Saratoga Passage and Skagit Bay is between Polnell Point on Whidbey Island and Rocky Point on Camano Island. To the northwest, Skagit Bay connects to the Strait of Juan de Fuca via the narrow strait of Deception Pass. A third waterway, the Swinomish Channel, connects Skagit Bay with Padilla Bay to the north.
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.
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