The Sculpture Forest is close to old Native American settlements and activity at Long Point and around Penn Cove. It is also near a potential Native American cemetery site. As such, the state Department of Archaeology...
After a lot of online searching, I have been able to put together a time machine of aerial photography showing Coupeville, Long Point, and the Sculpture Forest going back to 1941. Sources included the US Geological Survey, NHAP, and Western Mapping Center. The jumps in time show spurts...
My parents and I went on an interesting two hour boat tour along the shores of Penn Cove, leaving from the wharf and heading clockwise around the cove. An interesting and knowledgeable local Native American archaeology professor acted as our guide, as he pointed out burial sites, middens, village...
Some more local history: The Skagit tribe apparently settled in three permanent villages around the shores of Penn Cove, including one location just west of us. Apparently this area was considered to be the most desirable part of Whidbey Island, since only a few other settlements were scattered on...
While sleuthing around on Island County plat maps, I found some "mystery remnants" of past plans for our property that apparently never came to be. The plat map below shows a potential subdivision of our property into about 7 different lots, most of which were each larger than other lots in the...
Our property was very likely heavily forested from before the time that the first white settlers came to Whidbey. The open prairies of central Whidbey Island and some other similar areas around Oak Harbor were the most valued locations. Trees were extremely difficult and labor-intensive to remove,...