Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve is a unit of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

Whidbey Island Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, Island County, Washington (state), Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington stat ...

in the Puget Sound, near Coupeville in

Island County, Washington Island County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 86,857. Its county seat is Coupeville, while its largest city is Oak Harbor. The county's name reflects the fact that it is compo ...

, United States.

Description

The Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve is a rural

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

that preserves and protects the historical record of

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

exploration and settlement from the 19th century to the present. Historic farms, still under cultivation in the prairies of

, reveal land use patterns unchanged since settlers claimed the land in the 1850s under the

Donation Land Claim Act The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Pre ...

. The nearby seaport community of Coupeville, one of the oldest towns in Washington, is included in the reserve. Also included are both Fort Casey State Park and

Fort Ebey State Park Fort Ebey State Park is a public recreation area occupying the site of former Fort Ebey on the west side of Whidbey Island, west of Coupeville, Washington, Coupeville in Island County, Washington, Island County, Washington (state), Washington, ...

, as well as a section of the

Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail The Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) is a hiking trail running from the Continental Divide in Montana to the Pacific Ocean on Washington's Olympic Coast. Along the way, the PNT crosses three national parks, seven national forests, and two other nat ...

. The Central Whidbey Island Historic District, with the Sergeant Clark House and the Coupeville grain wharf, is part of the National Historical Reserve and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. . Other protected lands within the reserve include the Admiralty Inlet Natural Area Preserve.

History

The Reserve at Ebey's Landing provides a vivid historical record of

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

history, including the first exploration of Puget Sound by Captain

George Vancouver Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1792; early settlement by Colonel Isaac Ebey, who filed a claim under the

in 1850; growth and settlement resulting from the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

and the Westward migration; the Donation Land Laws (1850–1855); and the continued growth and settlement of the town of Coupeville.

Jurisdictions

Unlike many National Park Service units, the Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve encompasses a mixture of federal, state, county, and private property. Authorized November 10, 1978, the reserve is a partnership managed by a local trust board. Limited federal facilities exist in the reserve, and only 209.06 acres (0.846 km²) of the reserve are federally owned.

References

Sources

* * ''The National Parks: Index 2001–2003''. Washington:

U.S. Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relating t ...

External links