Fort Worden

Day trip with some girlfriends to Port Townsend for breakfast at Salal Café (good food, but be forewarned—they are slow), nearby Fort Worden for a short 4-mile hike, and then a little thrifty shopping back in Port Townsend.  

Fort Worden along with the heavy batteries of Fort Flagler and Fort Casey, once guarded the entrance to Puget Sound.  These posts, established in the late 1890s, became the first line of a fortification system designed to prevent a hostile fleet from reaching the Bremerton Naval Yard and the cities of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett. Construction began in 1897 and continued in one form or another until the fort was closed in 1953.

Besides a brilliant blue sky and spring flowers (red rhododendrons and flowering cherry are spectacular right now) to enjoy on our walk along the cliffs of Artillery Hill, we stopped along the way to poke into the battery stations (see picture on the right) built along the bluff.  It is apparent that big guns and many soldiers once manned these areas around the turn of the century.  Fort Worden remains intact with the old barracks, common buildings and officer housing—now used for small businesses and gatherings. 

As for the shopping, take note that Port Townsend’s Habitat for Humanity store is more like a great antique shop rather than a true thrift shop.  Lots of local artists sell their work here, too.  There was a vintage headboard made into a bench that would be an interesting conversation piece for some one.  Not really my style, but very cool with ornate carvings.  Creative re-purposing idea.  Will be back to browse through the store again—so much to take in.