Washington state parks

Fort Townsend Historical State Park – state parks quest #59

Five things

#1. This might be the most consistently useless fort on Puget Sound. Fort Townsend was built in 1856 to protect Port Townsend’s trade interests (it was the U.S. port of entry for Puget Sound) and defend residents during the treaty wars, the conflicts between the US military and tribes that arose as a result of treaties negotiated to remove Indians to reservations and make way for white settlers. But the fort lay fully four miles from Port Townsend—its location was selected because of the proximity to fresh water at Chimacum Creek—and was thus not of much use in defending it. The fort closed in 1859, then reopened as a lightly used military hospital during the Civil War. A general in charge of the region recommended its permanent closure in 1866, but the fort languished until an Army infantry unit used it intermittently from 1874 to 1895, when the barracks burned down. Military surveys starting in 1880 annually characterized Fort Townsend as “being of no value for the defense of Puget Sound.”

The parade grounds are almost all the remains from the fort’s active years. (Lauren Danner photo)

#2. The original Fort Townsend was about three times larger than today’s park, which contains only a few pieces of physical infrastructure from its time as a fort but plenty of older interpretive signs telling visitors what was where and why. Fort Townsend was used as an enemy munitions defusing station during World War II. One of the relics of that time is a tall brick building known as the Torpedo Tower, where torpedoes and underwater mines were taken to be disassembled.

The Torpedo Tower is now the site of the park’s group camp, but remains open to the public. (Lauren Danner photo)

#3. A botany trail focuses on native plant life and natural history, and passes the old military cemetery. The 27 bodies buried there were moved to the Presidio in San Francisco in 1898.

The 27 bodies interred here were moved to the Presidio more than a century ago, but the cemetery clearing remains mostly intact. (Lauren Danner photo)

#4. The park has its own geology brochure and two large glacial erratics, boulders dropped or moved here by retreating glaciers about 15,000 years ago, are clearly signed on the trail and the park map.

A glacial erratic along a trail. An interpretive sign reads, “This boulder is a glacial erratic, transported to this location inside glacial ice.” (Lauren Danner photo)

#5. A little way up the bay from the beach, the Port Townsend Paper Corporation mill spews smoke into the atmosphere. It’s a good reminder of the two mainstays of the Port Townsend economy: the military and timber.

The paper mill chugs away just across Glenn Cove from the park. (Lauren Danner photo)

Fast Facts about Fort Townsend Historical State Park

  • 413-acre camping park, open year-round 
  • 3,960’ saltwater shoreline
  • 40 standard sites, max length 40 feet, 4 hiker-biker sites, dump out, 2 restrooms, 1 shower, group camp
  • 43 picnic tables, 3 picnic shelters, grills, outdoor kitchens, horseshoe pits, playground, amphitheater, sports fields
  • 6.5 miles hiking trails, interpretive trails, mountain biking, road biking, birding, wildlife viewing
  • saltwater fishing, crabbing, diving, boating
  • junior ranger program
  • The Friends’ Barn, a replica of the 19th-century stable that once stood here, is available to rent for events
  • moorage buoys 
  • Discover Pass required, $10 daily or, for a very reasonable $30, purchase an annual pass
  • camping and roofed accommodations, hookups, reservable online or by calling 888-CAMPOUT
  • park brochure
  • park map

Land Acknowledgment

Fort Townsend Historical State Park occupies the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the S’Klallam and Chimacum peoples, whose descendants include the Jamestown S’Klallam, Port Gamble S’Klallam, and Skokomish peoples, and who have lived and travelled here since time immemorial.


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