Port Gamble

A visit to little Port Gamble makes a fun afternoon.  A pristine town (really, almost a village) with sea views all around of Hood Canal.  The whole town is a 120-acre National Historic Landmark (founded in 1853) complete with turn-of-the century homes and church on maple and elm tree-lined streets.   Port Gamble is the only remaining company owned mill town in Puget Sound.  The old-fashioned General Store has a café in back with the BEST clam chowder and the old fire station houses the BEST kayak store.  We will be back next spring to demo a few kayaks.

Probably the most interesting location in Port Gamble to visit today was the old cemetery on the hill.  Tumbling down headstones dated from the mid-to-late 1800s.  With ominous writing on one of tombstones:

“Alas she has left us, her spirit has fled, her body now slumbers along with the dead, her Savior hath called her, to him she has gone, be ye also ready to follow her soon.”

The last phrase may not rhyme, but point well taken.  Port Gamble capitalizes on its ghosts with night tours this time of year focusing on the paranormal.  The mock-up rooms of the sawmill, the Captain’s quarters in the ship, “Oriental”, the sawmill owner parlor/dining room in the museum are almost too realistic.  I am guessing the tours are a lively event…BAWHAHAHA!