Cama Beach State Park is a public recreation area facing

Saratoga Passage Saratoga Passage lies in Puget Sound between Whidbey Island and Camano Island. Saratoga Passage extends about 18 miles in a northwesterly direction from its entrance between Sandy Point on the Whidbey Island side and Camano Head on the other. ...

on the southwest shore of

Camano Island Camano Island is a large island in Possession Sound, a section of Puget Sound. It is part of Island County, Washington, and is located between Whidbey Island and the mainland (Snohomish County) by the Saratoga Passage to the west and Port Susa ...

in Island County,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. The state park preserves the site of a renovated, modernized 1930s-era auto court and fishing resort.

History

The archaeological record shows that Native Americans were active along the shoreline now known as Cama Beach for thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers. The discovery of human remains and artifacts in the early 21st century threatened to scuttle the creation of a state park at the site. In 1934, LeRoy Stradley opened a fishing resort with some two dozen cabins that could be rented by vacationers at modest cost. After his death four years later, as many other Camano Island resort properties came and went, Stradley's family continued to operate Cama Beach Resort until 1989. Once closed, Stradley's granddaughters sold the resort, which had fallen into disrepair, to the state of Washington at a fraction of its estimated worth, contributing some of their earnings to the property's rehabilitation.

Activities and amenities

Park activities include boating, crabbing, scuba diving, fishing, swimming, hiking on 15 miles of trails, wildlife viewing, and horseshoes. A mile-long trail connects the park with

Camano Island State Park Camano Island State Park is publicly owned recreation area on Camano Island in Puget Sound located southwest of Stanwood in Island County, Washington, United States. The park occupies and has of shoreline. It is managed by the Washington Sta ...

. Overnight accommodations at Cama Beach include two bungalows and 24 waterfront cedar cabins. The

Center for Wooden Boats The Center for Wooden Boats (CWB) is a museum dedicated to preserving and documenting the maritime history of the Pacific Northwest area of the United States. CWB was founded by Dick Wagner in Seattle in the 1970s and has grown to include three si ...

operates the historic boathouse and shop, offering boat rentals (including boats from the site's days as a fishing resort), youth and adult

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

and

boat building Boat building is the design and construction of boats and their systems. This includes at a minimum a hull, with propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other systems as a craft requires. Construction materials and methods Wood Wo ...

classes, and crabbing gear rentals.

References

External links

Cama Beach Historical State Park
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
Cama Beach Historical State Park Map
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission {{authority control 1934 establishments in Washington (state) State parks of Washington (state) Parks in Island County, Washington Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Island County, Washington Protected areas established in 1994