| A
hiker heads to the top of the Robert Y. Pratt
Preserve along the bluff-ridge trail at Ebey's
Landing, near Coupeville, Whidbey Island. |
 |
COUPEVILLE,
Whidbey Island, Wash. — On the beach at Ebey’s
Landing, gray bones of driftwood that have washed up from
who-knows-where have been cobbled into elaborate beach
shelters to be used for who-knows-what. Just knowing
someone spent time constructing them makes you smile.
In
the 1890s, pilings anchored fish traps along this shore.
These days the traps and pilings are gone, but anglers
still frequent a narrow crescent of sand with a wide,
crane-your-neck view of open saltwater where scuttling
ferries and lumbering container ships thread the waters of
Admiralty Inlet and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Watching
surf-casters woo coho adds to the sense of continuity that
washes over visitors here to Ebey’s Landing National
Historical Reserve.
The
landing, a timeless spot where a broad swath of fertile
prairie meets the sea, is a fine place for a hike any time
of year — for history, for scenery, and for fresh salt
air.
This
is where Col. Isaac Ebey, formerly of Missouri, came to
stake a claim in 1851. Among the first Euro-American
settlers on Whidbey Island, he liked it so much he coaxed
more of his family to move here.
The
exposed and often windy beach was the island’s first
ferry landing, where Ebey brought supplies ashore and a
ferry took passengers across to Port Townsend — you can
see it from here — and south into Puget Sound.
At
the foot of Ebey Road, which curls steeply down a bluff to
the beach, a small state-park wayside is the trailhead for
two delightful hikes. The first stretch for both starts by
climbing 57 stairs back to the top of the bluff, then
follows the blufftop alongside farmed fields, recently
cultivated with beets next to a golden patch of mowed hay.
To
the left is that saltwater view, looking across to Point
Wilson lighthouse, Protection Island and a backdrop of the
Olympic Mountains. To the right, look past old farmhouses
and barns to Mount Baker. Above, watch for bald eagles
wheeling high on updrafts.
It’s
a very gentle uphill grade 0.3-mile to a split rail fence
and a turnstile, where paths diverge.
Straight
ahead and up a steep hill, heading to the 260-foot crest
of the bluff, the trail enters the Robert H. Pratt
Reserve, belonging to the Nature Conservancy.
"There’s
a gorgeous view from up there!" Mike Price told me as
he hiked down with companion Debra Antetomaso, both of Oak
Harbor, and dog Jake, a German shorthair.
The
trail continues as part of a 3.5-mile loop that
switchbacks down to a pretty lagoon, Perego’s Lake, a
shorebird haven, before hikers follow the beach back to
the trailhead.
My
wife, Barbara, and I took Price’s word for it, and
turned right. Our objective was the path less taken: a
2.7-mile round trip to Sunnyside Cemetery.
We
were intrigued to see the grave of Isaac Ebey, who only
six years after settling here was beheaded by a raiding
native tribe from what is now British Columbia, taking
vengeance for the death of a chief at the hands of
Americans near Port Gamble.
"The
lagoon walk is clearly the traditional sort of loop that
people do," Mark Preiss, Historic Reserve manager,
told me. "But that cemetery — When people want to
learn about the homestead families, that’s the place.
Thomas Coupe (for whom nearby Coupeville is named) is
buried in that cemetery. The Ebeys are buried in that
cemetery. For many, many Whidbey Island place names, you
can find the family names in that cemetery."
We
followed a wire fence bordered by puffball seedpods of
thistles and skirting the upper edge of the farm prairie,
about 50 yards from an upland fir-and-cedar forest. Sounds
of honking geese and lowing cattle blended with the
lapping of shore waves behind us. Straight ahead, snowy
Baker was our beacon.
After
a half-mile, where some modern homes edge the prairie, we
angled left through an opening in the fence to inspect the
restored 1850s home of Jacob Ebey, Isaac’s father, who
followed him from Missouri. There’s also an old
blockhouse, built as protection against raiding tribes.
June through September, the house is staffed by volunteers
as a Historic Reserve visitor center.
From
here, no signs point the way, but we proceeded straight on
a gravel track past another beet field and along a hedge
of snowberry and rose hips, then wound to the right to
easily find the cemetery.
The
Ebey plot, surrounded by a white picket fence near the
cemetery’s edge on Sherman Road, includes weathered old
monuments for Isaac, Jacob and more.
As
Preiss promised, we found Coupes, Libbeys and other names
from around the island. One small tombstone with the name
broken off listed an age of "1 yr., 1 mo., 7
days," with the inscription, "Sleep on, dear
Freddie, and take your rest. God called thee home, when He
thought best." Nothing like a graveyard to put you
close to people’s loves and losses.
It’s
an easy tramp back, with that panoramic view to remind you
what made settlers come here in the first place. And why
they stayed.
———
IF
YOU GO:
WHERE:
From Highway 20 at Coupeville, Whidbey Island, go south on
Ebey Road about 1.5 miles until the road dips to the
beach. Park in the small state-parks wayside (Discover
Pass required) or on the road shoulder along the beach
(free). The trailhead is just beyond a vault toilet at the
state wayside.
EVENT:
After a hike, bring a dish to share at the Ebey’s
Forever Community Potluck, with live music, 6-8:30 p.m.
Nov. 9 at the historic Crockett Barn on Fort Casey Road,
Coupeville. A raffle will benefit the Ebey’s Forever
Fund, which helps preserve historical buildings in the
area;
