Shaw Island

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Shaw Island
Shaw Island locator map.svg
Location of Shaw Island in the San Juans
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Shaw Island
Geography
Location Pacific Northwest
Coordinates 48°34′24″N122°57′26″W / 48.5732°N 122.9573°W / 48.5732; -122.9573
Archipelago San Juan Islands
Area7.7037 sq mi (19.952 km2)
Administration
United States
State Washington
County San Juan County
Demographics
Population240 (2010)

Shaw Island is the smallest of the four San Juan Islands served by the Washington State Ferries. The island has a land area of 19.952 square kilometers (7.704 square miles) and a small year-round population of 188 [1] (2020 census). During the summer time, weekends swell with other residents and the occasional tourist.

Contents

History

Most of the southern half of Shaw Island (looking to the east), with the much smaller Canoe Island immediately past it, then Lopez Island most prominent in the background Shaw Island.jpg
Most of the southern half of Shaw Island (looking to the east), with the much smaller Canoe Island immediately past it, then Lopez Island most prominent in the background

The island is within the historical territory of the Lummi Nation. The United States obtained Shaw Island and the rest of the San Juan archipelago by treaty in 1855, but Lummi retained certain cultural and resource rights, including fishing.

The Wilkes Expedition, in 1841, named the island after John Shaw, a United States Naval Officer. According to Bill Tsilixw James, hereditary chief of the Lummi Nation, the Lummi know the island as Sq'emenen. A San Juan Island resident proposed to the state Board of Geographic Names in 2015 that Squaw Bay be renamed Sq'emenen Bay; that proposal generated a compromise proposal from the Shaw Island Historical Society to rename the bay Reef Net Bay, in recognition of the reef net fishing historically and currently done there. The name "Reef Net Bay" was adopted.

History of nuns

There have been three Catholic religious institutes of nuns on Shaw Island. Benedictine nuns established a monastery on 150 acres (61 hectares) in the 1970s; while the Sisters of Mercy have owned an unofficial retreat on the island since the 1980s. [2] Nuns of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist ran the island's only store and the ferry terminal for almost 3 decades, until 2004, when they relocated elsewhere. [3]

Island infrastructure and amenities

The ferry dock at Blind Bay. Terminal has a native Orca petroglyph carving sign. Shaw Landing.jpg
The ferry dock at Blind Bay. Terminal has a native Orca petroglyph carving sign.

Shaw Island has a county park, a historic general store open all year, and a post office at the ferry landing. A member-supported library and historical museum are located near the middle of the island. [3] [4]

The University of Washington also owns property throughout the island, notably the Cedar Rock Preserve on the south side of the island, a gift from Robert H. Ellis, Jr. The stated vision for these properties is "to maintain and restore native biodiversity and ecosystem function and to facilitate education and research that is consistent with these goals" and "to maintain important parts of the cultural landscape." [5]

The trademark road signs Old Shaw Signs.jpg
The trademark road signs

Shoreline access is best at the Shaw Island County Park, due to its vast beachline. There are 11.5 miles (18.5 km) of asphalt and 2.37 miles (3.81 km) of gravel public roads on Shaw. The primary roads are three loops in the interior of the island, with branches to the ferry dock, Shaw Island County Park, Neck Point, and part-way to the private property of Broken Point.[ citation needed ]

Arts and culture

Historical structures

The first Shaw school located on Reef Net Point adjacent Shaw Island County Park Old Shaw School.jpg
The first Shaw school located on Reef Net Point adjacent Shaw Island County Park
Historic "little red schoolhouse" Little Red Schoolhouse.jpg
Historic "little red schoolhouse"

Shaw Island School District #10, has an operational historic one-room school (although a second room was later added), with classes for kindergarten through eighth grade students. Known as the Little Red Schoolhouse, it has been in continuous use since it was built in 1891 and is the longest-running school in the State of Washington. [6] The building is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. [7]

Shaw Island also has a small membership funded library and historical museum. [4] [7]

Shaw Island was featured during the fifth-season episode "Access" of the political drama The West Wing as the site of a standoff between terrorist suspects and the US government, similar to the Waco, Texas Branch Davidian standoff.[ citation needed ] Shaw Island was mentioned in the movie "Glory".

Tourism

Businesses pertaining to tourism are required to maintain the character of the island as a small-scale, rural, and agricultural community through the Shaw Subarea Plan of Washington State's Growth Management Act. These include commercial recreational facilities; transient accommodations by themselves or in combination with any commercial use, food service facilities, and transient moorage and dry storage facilities.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Juan Islands</span> Archipelago in the Salish Sea in Washington, US

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whatcom County, Washington</span> County in Washington, United States

Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Lower Mainland of British Columbia to the north, Okanogan County to the east, Skagit County to the south, San Juan County across Rosario Strait to the southwest, and the Strait of Georgia to the west. Its county seat and largest population center is the coastal city of Bellingham, comprising the Bellingham, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and as of the 2020 census, the county's population was 226,847.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Juan County, Washington</span> County in Washington, United States

San Juan County is a county located in the Salish Sea in the far northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 17,788. The county seat and only incorporated town is Friday Harbor, located on San Juan Island. The county was formed on October 31, 1873, from Whatcom County and is named for the San Juan Islands, which are in turn named for Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, the Viceroy of New Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friday Harbor, Washington</span> Town in Washington, United States

Friday Harbor is a town in San Juan County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,162 at 2010 census. Located on San Juan Island, Friday Harbor is the major commercial center of the San Juan Islands archipelago and is the county seat of San Juan County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lummi Nation</span> Federally-recognized tribe in Washington (state)

The LummiNation is a federally-recognized tribe of primarily Lummi people. The Lummi Nation also includes some Nooksack, Samish, and other local tribes which were removed to the reservation. It is based in the coastal area of the Pacific Northwest region of Washington state in the United States, and is located within the Bellingham Metropolitan Area

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pig War (1859)</span> Border dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom

The Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between the United States and the United Kingdom over the British–U.S. border in the San Juan Islands, between Vancouver Island and the Washington Territory. The Pig War, so called because it was triggered by the shooting of a pig, is also called the Pig Episode, the Pig and Potato War, the San Juan Boundary Dispute, and the Northwestern Boundary Dispute. Despite being referred to as a "war", there were no human casualties on either side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lopez Island</span> Island of the San Juan Islands in Washington state, United States

Lopez Island is the third largest of the San Juan Islands and an unincorporated town in San Juan County, Washington, United States. Lopez Island is 29.81 square miles (77.2 km2) in land area. The 2020 census population was 3,156, though the population swells in the summer, as second homes, rental houses, and campsites fill up.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Juan Island</span> Island in the Salish Sea

San Juan Island is the second-largest and most populous of the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington, United States. It has a land area of 142.59 km2 and a population of 8,632 as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orcas Island</span> Largest of the San Juan Islands, in Washington state, USA

Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, in northwestern Washington, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decatur Island</span> Island of the San Juan Islands in northwest Washington, United States

Decatur Island is one of the San Juan Islands in Washington state, USA, located just east of Lopez Island across Lopez Sound and just south of Blakely Island across Thatcher Pass. Named by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841 for naval officer Stephen Decatur, it is 3.524 square miles (9.127 km²) in area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sucia Island</span>

Sucia Island is located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands, San Juan County, Washington, United States. It is the largest of an archipelago of ten islands including Sucia Island, Little Sucia, Ewing, Justice, Herndon, the Cluster Islands islets, and several smaller, unnamed islands. The group of islands is about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) in length and just short of a half mile wide. Sucia island is roughly the shape of a hand. The total land area of all islands is 2.74 km2. The main island of Sucia Island by itself is 2.259 km2. There was a permanent population of four persons as of the 2000 census, all on Sucia Island. Sucia Island State Park is a Washington State Marine Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Juan Island National Historical Park</span> National Historical Park of the United States

San Juan Island National Historical Park, also known as American and English Camps, San Juan Island, is a U.S. National Historical Park owned and operated by the National Park Service on San Juan Island in the state of Washington. The park is made up of the sites of the British and U.S. Army camps during the Pig War, a boundary dispute over the ownership of the island. The camp sites were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The park was created by an act of Congress in 1966 and expanded slightly in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastsound, Washington</span> Unincorporated community in San Juan County, Washington

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blakely Island, Washington</span> Island of the San Juan Islands in northwest Washington, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist</span> Roman Catholic religious congregation for women

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lummi Island</span> Island in the Salish Sea, northwest Washington, United States

Lummi Island lies at the southwest corner of Whatcom County, Washington, United States, between the mainland part of the county and offshore San Juan County. The Lummi Indian Reservation is situated on a peninsula east of the island, but it does not include Lummi Island. The island has a land area of 23.97 square kilometres and had a population of 822 as of the 2000 census. The population nearly doubles in summer when second-home owners from Canada and the U.S. arrive for the summer months.

Skull Island is the name of two small islands in the San Juan Archipelago in the U.S. state of Washington. The northernmost Skull Island is located off the coast of Orcas Island in Massacre Bay, the most northern extension of the island's West Sound. It is identified as 3.2-acre (1.3 ha) Skull Island State Park Property by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. It was named for holding skulls and bones of a band of Lummi who were killed by raiding Haida in 1858. Since 2013, it has been part of the San Juan Islands National Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitchell Bay Band of the San Juan Islands</span>

The Mitchell Bay Band of the San Juan Islands is an indigenous Coast Salish community based in the San Juan Islands of Washington, United States. The community was first referred to as the Mitchell Bay Tribe by Office of Indian Affairs agent Charles Roblin in his 1919 Census of Unenrolled Indians, in reference to one of several bays with historically significant indigenous populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lummi people</span> Indigenous people of western Washington (state)

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References

  1. ↑ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  2. ↑ Turner, Wallace (August 12, 1987). "Sisters' Island Neighbors Uneasy". The New York Times. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Oldham, Kit (October 12, 2005). "Franciscan nuns depart Shaw Island after operating as WSF agents for the island ferry terminal and their store for 27 years on June 2, 2004". Seattle, Washington: HistoryLink. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  4. 1 2 "San Juan Islands Travel Region - Shaw Island". GoNorthwest.com. November 30, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  5. ↑ "University of Washington San Juan Archipelago Biological Preserves". University of Washington. November 21, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Shaw Island School - History". Shaw Island School District. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Pitcher, Don (2012). San Juan Islands. Avalon Travel. p. 242. ISBN   9781612380575.
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