Friends of Skagit Beaches - Trail Tales

The Tides of Commerce

First traveled by European explorers in 1791, the swift, navigable channel between Fidalgo and Guemes islands has long been the heart of the Anacortes working waterfront.

Since its days as an insular port city, Anacortes has loved a party. When there were no roads to connect early settlers, they convened by boat for balls and midnight suppers. Holidays have long filled the streets of the historic downtown.

To Market and Table

Dungeness crab, found in commercial quantities from Alaska to central California, is one of the most popular items on West Coast dinner tables. Anacortes traces its local crabbing traditions to Coast Salish subsistence harvesting.

Messing Around in Boats

For both work and play, the bays, beaches, and surrounding islands of the Salish Sea are integral to life on Fidalgo Island. Early settlers made their own fun, canoeing and rowing on lakes and bays, swimming in brisk ocean waters, and boating to nearby islands.

Changing Shorelines

When Coast Salish tribes made their summer camps along local shores, the land transitioned naturally to the sea—forage fish laid eggs on shady pebble beaches; shellfish burrowed in eelgrass-covered mud flats; wetlands buffered wave action against the shore; and sloughing bluffs nourished nearby beaches.

Catch of the Day

For almost a century, commercial fishing was a mainstay of the Anacortes economy. In the 1950s, the Puget Sound fishing fleet packed the marina stem to stern, enjoying the city's amenities and its convenient access to island and Alaskan waters.

Balancing Risk

Harvesting local salmon and shellfish sustained native Coast Salish inhabitants for centuries. They traded these resources to early Anacortes settlers who were more interested in farming than fishing.

Cap Sante

The prominent rocky headland across the marina is perhaps the most notable—and enduring—feature of Fidalgo Bay, claiming a special place in local geologic and cultural history.

Mill Row

Abundant supplies of local timber gave rise to Anacortes' first industry—wood processing. By the early 1900s, 13 plants lined "Mill Row" along Fidalgo Bay's western shore. Spurred by the Oregon Land Donation Act of 1850, pioneer settlers moved west.

Navigating Marine Technology

Deep, navigable waters and a protected bay uniquely positioned Anacortes settlers to blend their determination, resources, and skills, setting in motion generations of marine innovation.

Plywood Mill: Talk About Big Business

anacortes veneer 600x420 This was Anacortes Veneer—one of the foremost plywood mills in the nation. The whine of its lathes and pungent scent of glue marked the grand finale of lumber processing in Anacortes.

Mitchell's Log Boom

2-3-forest-floats-away A little over a century ago, old-growth forests of massive firs and cedars covered much of the Pacific Northwest. Skagit Valley pioneers discovered a vast expanse of densely growing timber.

March Point: Ancient Fern Prairie

4-1-lede Urged by the federal government to venture west in the mid-1800s, Northwest pioneers settled on the natural prairies around Puget Sound. In contrast to the region’s heavily forested interiors, these ready-made farmlands adjacent to marine waterways offered an appealing place to set down roots.

Weaverling Spit: Pioneer Crossroads

4-2-lede Weaverling Spit is a 47-acre, thumb-like projection into the middle of Fidalgo Bay. Over time, the spit hosted Coast Salish foraging grounds, pioneer homesteads, a gold mine, community picnics, and a boisterous dance hall.

Coast Salish Food Traditions

4-3-lede2 The shoreline of the Salish Sea is blessed with an abundance of natural riches. A nursery of broad tidal flats and marshes is flushed by nutrientrich salty and fresh waters, bordered by fertile uplands, and draped in a gentle climate.