Port Gamble, WA
N 47° 51.062 W 122° 35.036
10T E 531125 N 5299826
This town sign is located on the southern part of Port Gamble if you're driving north on State Route 104.
Waymark Code: WMG7R6
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 01/25/2013
Views: 9
Visitors passing through the historic town of
Port Gamble are inundated with historical elements throughout the township. All of the main thoroughway through town has been preserved and showcases very historic homes and places of business for passersthrough to stop and take in the local history, shop at a few merchant stores or take a walk along the beach or nearby park. The whole town has gone to great lengths to appeal to the out-of-towner and the welcome sign, with its carved wooden letters only hint at what awaits the curious visitor who is willing to pause form their schedule and enjoy all or most of what there is to see here.
Port Gamble was established in 1859. The following excerpts from Wikipedia.com have this to say about this town:
Port Gamble is an unincorporated community on the northwestern shore of the Kitsap Peninsula in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is also a small, similarly named bay, along which the community lies, near the entrance to Hood Canal. The unincorporated communities of Port Gamble and Little Boston, part of Kitsap County, lie on either side of the mouth of this bay. The Port Gamble Historic District is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. The population was 916 at the 2010 census.
The community of Port Gamble has a wide range of shops from antiques to a tea shop to an old-fashioned general store. It is a popular tourist destination, due to its location near Bremerton, Port Townsend, Bainbridge Island, and Seattle and its downtown. Port Gamble is also home to the grave of Gustave Englebrecht, the first U.S. Navy sailor to die in the Pacific.
Gamble Bay was named by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841 after U.S. Navy Lt. Robert Gamble, an officer aboard the frigate USS President who was wounded in an exchange with the HMS Belvedira early in the War of 1812. The community, originally known as Teekalet and later renamed Port Gamble for the bay which gave it access to ocean commerce, was founded as a company town by Josiah Keller, William Talbot, and Andrew Pope's Puget Mill Company in 1853.
The first school in the county went up in 1859, and the community took its present name in 1868. In 1966, the town of Port Gamble was designated a National Historic Landmark District. In 1985, Pope & Talbot, the successor company to Puget Mill, split into Pope & Talbot and Pope Resources, the latter of which took over the site and the sawmill. In 1995, the mill shut down after 142 years, making it the longest operating sawmill in the country.
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As you can see, Port Gamble contains much history for just about any visitor to appreciate.