The Quimper Peninsula is a narrow peninsula forming the most northeastern extent 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 ...

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 ...

state in the northwestern United States of America. The peninsula is named after the

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

vian-born

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, Cana ...

explorer

Manuel Quimper Manuel Quimper Benítez del Pino (c. 1757 – April 2, 1844) was a Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official. He participated in charting the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Sandwich Islands in the late 18th ce ...

who, in command of , charted the north and south coasts of 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 ...

during the summer of 1790. The Spanish had given the name Quimper to today's New Dungeness Bay, which

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 ...

had renamed New Dungeness. In 1838

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 ...

gave the peninsula the name Dickerson, but the U.S. Coast Survey renamed it with Quimper's name. The Quimper Peninsula is defined by

Discovery Bay Discovery Bay (DB) is a resort town on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It consists of mixed, primarily residential, development, in particular upmarket residential development and private and public recreational facilities, including garden houses, ...

to the west, the

to the north, and

Port Townsend Bay Port Townsend Bay, also called Port Townsend, is a marine inlet off Admiralty Inlet at the northeastern extreme of the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washing ...

to the east. From the isthmus it extends approximately seven miles to the north-northwest and then curves to the northeast for another four miles before terminating at

Point Wilson Point Wilson is at the end of the Quimper Peninsula, a northeast extension of the Olympic Peninsula and the northeasternmost point of Jefferson County, Washington, United States, approximately two miles north of the Port Townsend business distric ...

. For most of its length the width is less than four miles. This peninsula forms the westernmost boundary of

Admiralty Inlet Admiralty Inlet is a strait in the U.S. state of Washington connecting the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Puget Sound. It lies between Whidbey Island and the northeastern part of the Olympic Peninsula. Boundaries It is generally c ...

. Its approximate geographic center is at coordinates . Although the Quimper Peninsula is geographically the most isolated part of

Jefferson County, Washington Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,977. The county seat and only incorporated city is Port Townsend. The county is named for Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson County wa ...

, it is the most economically developed and densely populated part of the county.

Port Townsend Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...

, the county seat and only incorporated city in the county, is located at the end of the peninsula. The communities of Cape George, Port Hadlock, Irondale, and Chimacum are on the peninsula south of

. The name "Quimper Peninsula" has become a convenient means of referring collectively to Port Townsend and the surrounding communities. When non-native explorers first arrived in the late 18th century, and the first non-native settlers in the mid-19th century, there were no permanent Native American settlements on the northern part of the peninsula as fresh water was obtainable only from streams at the southern end of the peninsula. The

Chimakum The Chimakum, also spelled Chemakum and Chimacum are a near extinct Native American people (known to themselves as Aqokúlo and sometimes called the Port Townsend Indians), who lived in the northeastern portion of the Olympic Peninsula in Washin ...

lived along the southeastern shore of the peninsula and members of the

S'Klallam Klallam (also Clallam, although the spelling with "K" is preferred in all four modern Klallam communities) refers to four related indigenous Native American/First Nations communities from the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Klallam cul ...

along the southwestern shore. Because of strong tidal currents in

, Native Americans traveling between the

and

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

would often portage their canoes across the Quimper Peninsula by way of a prairie they called ''Kah Tai'', that traversed the peninsula in present-day

References

*Camfield, Thomas W., ''Port Townsend: An Illustrated History of Shanghaiing, Shipwrecks, Soiled Doves and Sundry Souls'', Port Townsend, Ah Tom Publishing, Inc., 2000.

External links

* {{Coord, 48, 3, 55, N, 122, 48, 54, W, display=title Landforms of Jefferson County, Washington Peninsulas of Washington (state)