Fidalgo Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Skagit County Skagit County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,523. The county seat and largest city is Mount Vernon. The county was formed in 1883 from Whatcom County and is named for the Skagit Ind ...

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 ...

, located about north of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. To the east, it is separated from the mainland by the

Swinomish Channel The Swinomish Channel is an long salt-water channel in Washington state, United States, which connects Skagit Bay to the south, and Padilla Bay to the north, separating Fidalgo Island from mainland Skagit County. The Swinomish Channel is the s ...

, and from

Whidbey Island Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington State. (The other large island is Camano Island, ...

to the south by

Deception Pass Deception Pass is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Washington. It connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A pair of bridges known collectivel ...

. The island is named after the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

explorer and cartographer

Salvador Fidalgo Salvador Fidalgo y Lopegarcía (6 August 1756 – 27 September 1803) was a Spanish explorer. He commanded an exploring expedition for Spain to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest during the late 18th century. Early career Fidalgo was born in La Se ...

, who explored the area in 1790. Its largest and only city is Anacortes with a population of 17,637 at the time of the 2020 census.

Ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

leave daily for the

San Juan Islands The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...

. Seasonal ferry service from Anacortes to Sidney,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

was canceled in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and has not yet been restored as of March 2022.

Geography

Fidalgo Island has a land area of 106.684 km² (41.19 sq mi). There are at least eight major lakes on Fidalgo Island which are named Campbell, Erie, Heart, Little Cranberry, Mud, Pass, Trafton/Crater, and

Whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...

History

Fidalgo Island was originally inhabited by the

Samish The Samish are a Native American people who live in the U.S. state of Washington. They are a Central Coast Salish people. Through the years, they were assigned to reservations dominated by other Tribes, for instance, the Swinomish Indians of th ...

and

Swinomish The Swinomish are an historically Lushootseed-speaking Native American people in western Washington state in the United States. The Tribe lives in the southeastern part of Fidalgo Island in northern Puget Sound, near the San Juan Islands, in ...

peoples. The Samish Indian Nation maintains a presence in the area, with an administrative office in Anacortes. Fidalgo Island is named for the

explorer and cartographer

who explored the area in 1790 with the fleet of

Francisco de Eliza Francisco de Eliza y Reventa (1759 – February 19, 1825) was a Spanish naval officer, navigator, and explorer. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest. He was the commandant of the Spanish post in Nootka Sound on Vancou ...

Charles Wilkes Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he commanded ' during the ...

discovered that it was an island rather than part of the mainland. He named it ''Perry Island'' in honor of

Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was an American naval commander, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The best-known and most prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace A ...

, the American commander who won the

Battle of Lake Erie The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, on Lake Erie off the shore of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of the Briti ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. Following this theme, Wilkes named the island's highest point '' Mount Erie''. When

Henry Kellett Vice Admiral Sir Henry Kellett, (2 November 1806 – 1 March 1875) was a British naval officer and explorer. Career Born at Clonacody in Tipperary County, Ireland, on 2 November 1806, Kellett joined the Royal Navy in 1822. He spent three yea ...

reorganized the official British Admiralty charts in 1847, he removed Wilkes' name ''Perry'' and bestowed the name ''Fidalgo'' to honor the Spanish explorer. The highest point retained the name ''Erie''. Settlement peaked in the 1850s due to the Fraser River Gold Rush and in 1890 due to speculation that the area would become a terminus of the

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whi ...

. Later the island became an important

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

and

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

center.

Transportation

From 1924 to 1935, Fidalgo Island was linked to

by the

Deception Pass ferry The Deception Pass ferry was a ferry route in Washington State that ran between Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island across Deception Pass Deception Pass is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U. ...

, which was superseded in 1935 by the construction of the

Deception Pass Bridge Deception Pass Bridge is the common name for two, two-lane bridges on Washington State Route 20 connecting Whidbey Island in Island County, to Fidalgo Island in Skagit County, in the U.S. state of Washington. It was a Washington State Highways pr ...

. Today, Fidalgo Island is the site of the

ferry terminal A passenger terminal is a structure in a port which services passengers boarding and leaving water vessels such as ferries, cruise ships and ocean liners. Depending on the types of vessels serviced by the terminal, it may be named (for example) ...

that links Anacortes to

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

and the

to the rest of the state.

Notable residents

Morris Graves Morris Graves (August 28, 1910 – May 5, 2001) was an American painter. He was one of the earliest Modern artists from the Pacific Northwest to achieve national and international acclaim. His style, referred to by some reviewers as Mysticism, ...

, painter *

Phil Elverum Philip Whitman Elverum (; born May 23, 1978) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and visual artist, best known for his musical projects The Microphones and Mount Eerie. Based in Anacortes, Washington, in the mid-2000s he began ...

, musician *

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

, actor, singer, voice personality * Jake Anderson, reality t.v. * Casey Rigney, pro skateboarder, cirque de soleil

Notes

References

Early History of Fidalgo Island

External links

Deception Pass Park Foundation webpageSave South FidalgoSouth Fidalgo Community Council
Anacortes, Washington Islands of Washington (state) Islands of Skagit County, Washington Islands of Puget Sound {{SkagitCountyWA-geo-stub