(EXPANDED FROM 5/28/2021)
Some say that the American dream ends in the sun-drenched surf of California. That may have been the case in years gone by, but not anymore.
In 2020 California recorded a net loss of population for the first time in a century (Hubler, 2021). Washington was one of the top four states where Californians moved in 2019 (Lansner, 2020).
Western Washington has been a popular destination of Californians. The region’s appeal is understandable. Jobs are more plentiful and the climate is more temperate than east of the Cascade mountain range. And like the rest of Washington, there is no state income tax and housing prices tend to be lower than in California . . . at least outside of the Seattle metropolitan area.
Some have chosen to escape suburban life altogether by settling in the isolated rural community of Port Townsend. In doing so, they have embraced a rather different kind of American dream than from whence they came.
The road ends at Port Townsend in more ways than one
Port Townsend is the end of the road, both literally and figuratively. To the north is the Strait of Juan de Fuca and another country — Canada’s Vancouver Island.
To the west is the tip of the Olympic Peninsula — and the continental United States. But aside from the small cities of Port Angeles and Sequim, the region is dominated by sparsely populated rainforests and craggy beaches. In a very real sense, the northern peninsula is still the wild west.
Port Townsend has been called the “City of Dreams” because some once believed that it would become the largest U.S. harbor on the west coast. The area was the recipient of significant investments until it became clear that the railroad would not be extended to here. Then came the bust (Wikipedia, 2021).
Today Port Townsend has less than 10,000 inhabitants — not enough to even be graced by a freeway (Wikipedia, 2021). The drive into town is via a winding two-lane road through forests and pastures.
A vestige of the boom years is more than 300 Victorian-style homes, many of which have been carefully preserved (Wikipedia, 2021).
That holds true for its automobiles as well. Fancy new cars mingle with old ones such as the mid-60s Volkswagen Beetle shown below. This can make Port Townsend seem like the community that time forgot.
The city quite rightly brands itself as a “Victorian Seaport and Arts Community.” A variety of festivals generate tourism. Meanwhile, new residents appear to be drawn by the area’s natural beauty, slower pace and communitarian civic spirit (Judd, 2019).
In a sense this is a new story. Yet the “American dream” began seeping into the area in 1851, when Port Townsend was established as a Euro-American settlement. From the outset the area’s economy was closely tied to the sea (Wikipedia, 2021). For example, in 1885 a clam cannery was established at the building shown below.
Perhaps because Port Townsend has seen so many ups and downs — and is so isolated — it has developed an unusual number of mutual-aid groups for such a small community. These include a food coop, a handful of cohousing organizations and even a bicycle resources center.
Nearby lighthouse guards gateway to Puget Sound
In 1879 a lighthouse was built at Point Wilson, which is just north of the city’s historic downtown (U.S. Lighthouse Society, 2021). This is the eastern corner of the Olympic Peninsula, where it juts down into the Puget Sound and you eventually come face to face with the overflowing metropolis of Seattle. However, at Point Wilson life still has an idyllic cadence of sailboats drifting by almost as slowly as the clouds in the sky.
The original lighthouse tower was built into a two-story home. Then, in 1913 a separate, taller lighthouse was erected in order to be more visible (U.S. Lighthouse Society, 2021).
That building was used for decades until new technology made obsolete the naked eye . . . and the lonely searchlight, endlessly circling through rain, fog and northern sun.
How the past can illuminate the present
To visit the Point Wilson lighthouse is to be reminded that what is considered “new and improved” today may someday be widely viewed as a deteriorating artifact, of no practical use.
Also see ‘Willapa Bay can be a surreal drive back and forth in time’
To see the lighthouse’s lovely architecture hints at how some design trends may weather the test of time better than others.
And to watch visitors to Port Townsend tumbling out of their sport-utility vehicles at the Point Wilson parking lot is to recognize that we are still nomads, chasing our dreams across the American continent as far we can go. Only our methods of transportation have changed.
NOTES:
This photo essay was originally posted April 30, 2021 and expanded on June 11, 2023.
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RE:SOURCES
- Hubler, Shawn; 2021. “A New Demographic Surprise for California: Population Loss.” The New York Times. Posted May 10.
- Judd, Ron; 2019. “Port Townsend wrestles with its increasingly complex identity and dizzying change.” Seattle Times’s Pacific NW Magazine. Posted Oct. 23; accessed April 28.
- Lansner, Jonathan; 2020. “653,551 folks left California in 2019. Where did they go?” The Mercury News. Posted Nov. 20.
- U.S. Lighthouse Society; 2021. “Point Wilson Lighthouse.” Accessed April 28.
- Wikipedia, 2021. “Port Townsend, Washington.” Page last modified April 20; accessed April 28.
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