Port Gamble, Washington U.S.A. - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

THE PERSON:
After doing some online research, it was revealed that the name of the town of Port Gamble was formally christened by Lt. Charles Wilkes, a surveyor and commander of the United States Exploring Expedition which became known as the Wilkes Expedition. The expedition from 1838-1842 was established with the aim to explore the scientific values the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands could offer the U.S. Lt. Wilkes went about naming places after people and circumstances involving the War of 1812 during the expedition and Port Gamble was no exception. He honored Lt. Robert Gamble, who served aboard the frigate, USS President (one of five sister ships to the USS Constitution). Five days after war was declared, Gamble was wounded in an exchange with the HMS Belvedira. I could find no other information regarding Lt. Gamble, such as when he died or a picture of him. I DID find a website that mentions Lt. Robert Gamble among a long line of Robert Gambles that fought in every American war through World War I. Lt. Gamble is referred to as #3 in the family genealogy article. It mentions that in 1826 he brought his family to Florida and established the Welaunee plantation in Jefferson County, Florida.

Lt. Wilkes would later go on to fight on behalf of the Union in the Civil War and retired with a Rear Admiral rank. He endured a sometimes tumultuous military career but also left a small legacy, having a number of naval ships over the decades named in his honor.

THE PLACE:
There is a wonderful website, HistoryLink.org, that has an online cyber-tour of Port Gamble and has a map of individual residences and commercial buildings that can be read in more detail here. Some excerpts from another article on HistoryLink.org regarding the history of this town says the following:

Port Gamble represents one of the few remaining examples of company towns, thousands of which were built in the nineteenth century by industrialists to house employees. Founders Josiah Keller, William Talbot, and Andrew Pope planned the town to reflect the character of their hometown, East Machias, Maine, where many of the early employees originated. For 142 years, the community existed to support sawmills that produced lumber for the world market. The mill closed in 1995, but as a National Historic Site, the townsite has been preserved to reflect an authentic company mill town.

In the summer of 1853, San Francisco lumber merchant and sea captain William Talbot (1816-1881) spotted the sand spit at the mouth of the bay as a likely place for a lumber mill. Talbot was a partner of Josiah Keller (d. 1862), Andrew Pope (1820-1878), and Charles Foster in the Puget Mill Company. They planned to cut the abundant trees of Oregon Territory into lumber for sale in California and across the Pacific. The sand spit sheltered ships and was close to stands of timber.

More History:
Visitors to the historic town of Port Gamble are inundated with historical elements throughout the township. Almost every building in this town contains a historical marker that highlights the history of prior occupants. Each marker stands out nicely on painted burgundy boards and gold lettering. There's a flagpole that stands near a small park in the center of town and has a historical marker on the front of a white fence nearby that reads:

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