July, 2020
After my first evening and night at Scenic Beach State Park, I woke refreshed, got up and got dressed, had breakfast, did the dishes, and tidied the trailer.
I was ready to head out and see what I could see!
I didn’t get very far. I saw interesting things right away.
Just a couple of miles from the campground was the very small village of Seabeck.
That’s it, in the photo above. That’s it. That’s Seabeck.
Seabeck Landing General Store
In the one building immediately to the left of the general store above are: Seabeck Pizza, a small art gallery, and a second floor apartment available for weekend and extended stays.
To the right of the general store is Turie’s … home baked goods, coffee/tea … right here in one of the most beautiful spots on earth.
Seabeck might be small now, but it was quite mighty not that many years ago. At one time, back around 1856 or so, it had two lumber mills, four saloons, two general stores, and two hotels, and one would suppose a great number of homes for the people who worked in all of those places, maybe even a school too. Here’s a link to Wikipedia for information about Seabeck history.
Besides the general store here today, and Turia’s, and a marina for boats, the other income producing endeavor, just across the street from the general store, is the Seabeck Conference Center.
Here’s a link to the history of this area where the conference center is today. One of the lumber mills was built on this land and some of those lumber company buildings are still in use.
But of way more interest to me was the saltwater bay here. The general store, pizza/art building, and Turia’s are built out over the water of this bay.
When I arrived here this morning, the tide was out … way out, as you can see in the photo below.
The few buildings that make up Seabeck today are off to the right in the photo below. There is a very nice, modern marina here as well, shown in the photo below.
I walked past those few buildings that make up Seabeck today and got a closer look at the pier that leads out to the marina.
The marina was mostly empty when I took these photos because most of the boats moored here are privately owned, small fishing boats. Most of them were out fishing. But I enjoyed looking at the boats that were still moored at the dock.
I liked this red one best. I don’t see much (any!) fishing gear on it, but it looks like a boat that would get you out there and back in no time at all, and would provide plenty of cover for bright, hot sunshine or inclement weather.
About 23 years ago, during the time I owned my first boat, Redhead, a friend of mine and I spent a couple of days cruising up Puget Sound from Tacoma, then down Hood Canal to Seabeck. We found overnight moorage at the Seabeck Marina and stayed overnight. Back then, the marina had old wooden pilings (they were old even back then) and rather rickity docks. Today, the pilings are metal, and the docks seem quite secure and stable.
Underneath the new tall pier that I saw on today’s visit here, there appeared to be the remains of that old wooden pier with the old wooden pilings. I rather liked that those probably were the pilings that held the marina together when I was there with Redhead.
You can’t spend hardly any time at all around salt water hereabouts without seeing a good number of seagulls.
And, when I took the time to stand and stare, that’s when I started noticing several Great Blue Heron standing at water’s edge, waiting for a bite of lunch to come to them on the incoming tide.
Ready to strike!
“What?! Someone is watching me? With a camera?”
“That just won’t do. You do not have permission. I have not signed a model release!”
Ok, ok, I apologize, I’m so sorry. But then I spied a different Great Blue Heron who was happy to pose for me. Look at the neck and chest feathers on this bird! She is obviously an older and wiser bird than that young one above.
The salt water smelled wonderful. The cries of the seagulls sounded wonderful. I had several nice chats with local folks who were at the general store or who had purchased a cup of coffee from Turia and were then sitting outside at tables on the pier. The sky was blue, the water was calm, it was a perfect summer day. What more could anyone ask? 🙂
What a great find. A beautiful campground but not anywhere near a large city. Seabeck is on our list! Jim loved the boat photos, I loved your trailer interior.
Janey
Isn’t it gorgeous? Come on down! 🙂 Well, ok, when the border opens between Canada and the USA.
Boats! I love boats. You’d think someone who lives in Nevada wouldn’t care much about boats, but I love boats. Thanks Ann. Yep, I’d pick the red one too.
Oh, yes, the love of boats. I have that too, Nevada. And it doesn’t seem to matter where you live in the whole world … the love of boats is just inside our DNA somehow. 🙂
You had me at home-made pastries. But the scenery is beautiful; what an idyllic spot. In which to eat pastries….
LOL!! Yes, pastries. I had to walk by that shop a good number of times before I talked myself out of buying a decadent nom-nom pastry. I’m still not sure I made the right decision.
In case some of your readers don’t check out the links you provided, it’s interesting to me that the name Seabeck isn’t European. It’s a mangle-ment of a native tribe Tawana word “/ɬqábaq” which means far-smooth-water. The area was initially called Scabock by the British who explored the area. Looking at a map, Seabeck is far enough down Hood Canal to be a bit sheltered from Puget Sound and Foulweather Bluff, and it appears to be precisely in the middle of the shadow of the Olympic Mountains, so maybe it’s doubly protected. One imagines the water is much calmer here than other parts of Puget Sound.
Wow, thank you Steve. I missed that whole thing about how Seabeck got its name. I assumed, incorrectly, that it was European … maybe Mr. Beck decided he liked living by the “sea”, or some such. It’s sad that we have yet again mangled a local nation’s name/word. And yet it’s also wonderful that the word Seabeck is (sort of) a word from the original people who lived here. Thank you for finding and sharing that information. My readers are the best!
Ann, the water and the boats are so different from what we have here in Montana. My wife and I have actually talked about getting the motorhome back in shape and heading west to your area. Maybe in 2021 when this covid thing has died down? I sure hope so, I’d love to see the things you’ve shown us!
Get that motorhome spiffed up and running … get on the road … time’s a-wasting! Whether it’s 2021 or 2022, please do come west. Let me know and I’ll help in any way I can.
Love the heron photos and especially those chest feathers on that last one, how beautiful. I even love the seagull. 🙂
Me too! 🙂
Oh Ann, you’ve made herons so interesting! I have never seen such great, detailed photos – and the captions were hilarious too.
🙂 Thank you.