another beautiful day for a drive!
We drove along the Hood Canal on up to Port Townsend.
In the late 1800's, sin flourished in the brothels on Port Townsend's Water Street, while proper Victorian women and children kept their distance on the bluff above. The town was built to be seen from the sea, aiming its advertising efforts at sailors. In fact, the wives and offspring of seafaring captains were banned from the downtown area so they wouldn't mix with the disreputable women-for-hire
Today, the division is still reflected in the architecture, with castle-style bed and breakfasts sitting atop the hill and eclectic boutiques, restaurants and coffeehouses set down at sea level.
Out on the point above Port Townsend is the Point Wilson Lighthouse, guiding the boats into the Puget Sound. The lighthouse sits in the grounds of Fort Worden State Park. We missed the tour of the lighthouse however we did go to the Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum. This museum is the only museum dedicated to the tradition and history of the Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound (circa 1897-1969). It was a very interesting museum with all the military artifacts, photographs, uniforms and professionally built scale model and interpretive displays. John was most interested in all the guns they had on display. I found it interesting that there was a piece of shrapnel from the missile that was fired on Ft. Stevens in Oregon ( see blog on Astoria).
The movie "An Officer and A Gentleman" was filmed on the grounds here at Fort Worden.
Once again an interesting place to visit.... our next tour in Olympic National Park. More on that later, Candy
