Jarrell Cove State Park – state parks quest #32

Many years ago, a friend took us on a boat ride to Jarrell Cove State Park. Our daughter was tiny, and I don’t remember much of the trip beyond pulling up to the dock and thinking that seeing the forest from the water was a perspective largely lost to the rise of the automobile. From Olympia to Jarrell Cove is 35 miles by car, but just under 20 by boat. For millennia, Puget Sound was the highway that people used to move from place to place. Waterways are often more direct, which makes me wish for the days of the Mosquito Fleet, when dozens of small boats buzzed around Puget Sound carrying people and freight. 

It was slightly strange this time, then, to visit Jarrell Cove, a park built for boaters, without a boat. We came by car, crossing the small bridge to Harstine Island and wending our way to the northern end, where the cove, shaped like an inverted Y, pierces the island off Pickering Passage.

On the water 

The weather was frigid, clear, and windy on a late fall day, and we had the park mostly to ourselves. The water beckoned, and we walked a short trail onto a boat dock with a lone sailboat tied up at the end. To the southeast we had a good view down one of the cove’s two arms, lit by the low autumn sun and golden leaves. Turning around we could see dozens of boats docked at privately owned Jarrell Cove Marina on the other side. Six eagles glided lazily overhead, impervious to the cold. 

Heading toward the main dock, we passed several campsites set in semi-private clearings overlooking the water, perfect for overnight boaters.

The T-shaped main dock faces the private marina, and the only boats tied there displayed the State Parks badge. Jarrell Cove park staff also manage several nearby water-oriented parks, including McMicken Island, Hope Island, Stretch Point, and Eagle Island. I’m sure those boats get a lot of use during the year. 

The trail continues for a few hundred feet past the main dock to a paddle-in campsite reserved for those arriving by human-or wind-powered boat. A convenient kayak rack allows easy overnight storage.

Into the woods

We’d covered the waterfront and wanted to see the forest. Walking past the small campground along the access road, we found a trail and stepped into the woods. It’s a short walk, maybe a mile total, but felt like a fairy forest, with mushrooms peeking out from underneath sword ferns and native black raspberry trailing on the ground.

A covered picnic shelter and small amphitheater hinted at warm-weather fun. I hope visitors who arrive by boat explore the forest. It’s well worth it. We dawdled as much as the cold allowed, but all too soon we were back at the parking lot. 

Who was Jarrell?

Jarrell Cove is named for Philura Jarrell, the first Euro-American woman to live on Harstine Island. Her husband, Robert, had a land claim that encompassed the present park. Not much is known about Philura or Robert, and I couldn’t resist diving into a historical rabbit hole to see what I could learn.

The answer turned out to be just enough to be frustratingly intriguing. Robert appears in the U.S. Census in 1860 working as a laborer in Teekalet, near Port Gamble on the Kitsap Peninsula. Ten years later he shows up on Harstine Island as a lumberman. He filed a land claim at Jarrell Cove in 1886 and lived there until his death in 1894. He was the first person buried in the Harstine Island Cemetery, for which Philura donated a half-acre of their land claim in 1897. Mason County added the graveyard, southwest of the park, to its Historic Register in 2017.

Born in Vermont in 1830, records indicate Philura was married twice, in 1849 and 1858, before she wed Robert. I found no divorce records, but her first husband lived until 1873 so it’s fair to assume they divorced. Both early marriages took place in New England, and I wonder why Philura came west. She was nearly 50 when she and Robert married in 1878, and by 1899 she became the island’s first postmistress, a position she held until at least 1910. Philura died in 1913, aged 82.

Part of the difficulty in tracking down Philura and Robert lies in the many, many ways their names are spelled in the records. Their last name appears as Gerrald, Gerald, Jerrold, Jarrald, Jarrell, Jarroll, Jarrel, Jerrel, and Jerral, all in the spindly handwriting of various census takers. While “Robert” is consistent, “Philura” shows up as Wilma (chalk that one up to someone misreading the census while entering the name in a modern database), Philara, Philaura, and Phalura. The spelling confusion contributed to the park being named Gerald Cove State Park when it was established in 1953. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission changed it to Jarrell in 1966. 

By boat or by car

State Parks acquired the parcels that now comprise Jarrell Cover between 1953 and 1969, before there was a bridge to Harstine Island. It was built to be a park for boaters. When the bridge to Harstine Island opened in 1969, replacing a small auto ferry that had operated since 1922, the park became easily accessible by car. Today, you can choose your transport to the park. If you’re lucky enough to have a boat or a friend with a boat, arriving by water gives a hint of what it might have been like before cars. If, like me, you’re boat-less, Jarrell Cove is still a worthwhile destination to soak up the marine atmosphere and explore an island forest.

Fast facts about Jarrell Cove State Park

• 67-acre marine camping park, open year-round
• 3,500’ of saltwater shoreline
• Discover Pass required, $10 daily or, for a very reasonable $30, purchase an annual pass
• 19 standard and two hook-up campsites, 34’ max length, group camp, some reservable online or by calling 888-CAMPOUT
• One Cascadia Marine Trail campsite
• restroom and shower
• picnic tables, picnic shelter, 2 kitchen shelters, grills
• hiking, biking, amphitheater, badminton pit, volleyball field, horseshoe pits, fire circles 
• boating, waterskiing, beachcombing, diving, swimming, fishing, crabbing (license required)
• Two boat docks with 650’ of dock space, 14 mooring buoys, boat pumpout available
• Harstine Island State Park Property, two miles south, offers several miles of hiking trail and beach access
• park brochure
• park map

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