Dungeness Spit is a
sand spit
A spit or sandspit is a deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores. It develops in places where re-entrance occurs, such as at a cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drift by longshore currents. The drift occurs due t ...
jutting out approximately
from the northern edge of the
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...
in northeastern
Clallam County, Washington
Clallam County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 77,155, with an estimated population of 78,209 in 2021. The county seat ...
into the
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...
. It is the longest natural sand spit in the United States.
The spit is growing in length by about per year.
The body of water it encloses is called Dungeness Bay.
The Dungeness Spit is entirely within the
Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge
The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is located near the town of Sequim in Clallam County in the U.S. state of Washington, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The refuge is composed of which include Dungeness Spit, Graveyard Spit, and portions of ...
and home of the
New Dungeness Light
The New Dungeness Lighthouse is a functioning aid to navigation on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, located on the Dungeness Spit in the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge near Sequim, Clallam County, in the U.S. state of Washington. It has been in c ...
house. Its land area, according to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, is 1,271,454 square meters (0.4909 sq mi, or 314.18
acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
s). The lighthouse once was run by
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
, but in 1976 the agency installed an automatic light. Since 1994 the lighthouse has been staffed and maintained by the volunteer "New Dungeness Light Station Association".
The spit is open to the public year around. The spit has a campground and "Dungeness Recreation Area" that is also open year-round. The campground features a 1-mile long scenic bluff trail, several miles of hiking/biking trails, and a designated equestrian trail.
The spit was first recorded by Europeans during the Spanish
1790 Quimper expedition. British explorer
George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...
named the landform in 1792, writing "The low sandy point of land, which from its great resemblance to Dungeness in the British Channel, I called New Dungeness."
He named it after the
Dungeness headland in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
In December 2001 a heavy winter storm forced water over the spit. The next morning the spit was split in three places, and vehicles supplying the lighthouse were not able to traverse the spit for about a month.
See also
* Dungeness River
The Dungeness River is a long river located in the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. It rises near Mount Constance in the Olympic Mountains within the Olympic National Park, flows through the Buckhorn Wilderness, passes by the to ...
* Dungeness crab
The Dungeness crab (''Metacarcinus magister'') is a species of crab inhabiting eelgrass beds and water bottoms along the west coast of North America. It typically grows to across the carapace and is a popular seafood. Its common name comes from ...
* Ediz Hook
Ediz Hook is a sand spit that extends from northern shore of the Olympic Peninsula at Port Angeles in northcentral Clallam County, Washington, USA, northeasterly into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, located about west of the larger Dungeness Spit. ...
References
External links
Dungeness Spit: Block 2000, Census Tract 9816, Clallam County, Washington
United States Census Bureau
US Fish & Wildlife - Dungeness NWR
New Dungeness Lighthouse
{{Coord, 48.168604, -123.1394, type:city_region:US, format=dms, display=title
Headlands of Washington (state)
Landforms of Clallam County, Washington
Spits of the United States