The Kitsap Peninsula () lies west 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 ...

across

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 ...

, in

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as 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. Tho ...

Hood Canal Hood Canal is a fjord forming the western lobe, and one of the four main basins,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 th ...

on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "Kitsap", encompasses all of

Kitsap County Kitsap County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 275,611. Its county seat is Port Orchard, and its largest city is Bremerton. The county was formed out of King County and Jefferson County on ...

except Bainbridge and

Blake Island Blake Island is a Puget Sound island in Kitsap County, Washington, United States, that is preserved as Blake Island Marine State Park. The island lies north of Vashon Island, south of Bainbridge Island, and east of Manchester. On the northeast e ...

s, as well as the northeastern part of Mason County and the northwestern part of Pierce County. The highest point on the Kitsap Peninsula is Gold Mountain. The

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted ...

, and

Naval Base Kitsap Naval Base Kitsap is a U.S. Navy base located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state, created in 2004 by merging the former Naval Station Bremerton with Naval Submarine Base Bangor. It is the home base for the Navy’s fleet throughout ...

(comprising the former NSB Bangor and NS Bremerton) are on the peninsula. Its main city is

Bremerton Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremer ...

. Though earlier referred to as the Great Peninsula or Indian Peninsula, with "Great Peninsula" still its official name, its current name comes from Kitsap County, which occupies most of the peninsula. It is thus the namesake of

Chief Kitsap Kitsap or Ktsap (died April 18, 1860) was a war chief of the Suquamish Native American tribe. One source says that he was the most powerful chief on Puget Sound from 1790 to 1845. Kitsap County, Washington and the Kitsap Peninsula are named for ...

, an 18th- and 19th-century warrior and medicine man of the

Suquamish The Suquamish () are a Lushootseed language, Lushootseed-speaking Native Americans in the United States, Native American people, located in present-day Washington (state), Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish peopl ...

Tribe. The Suquamish were one of the historical fishing tribes belonging to the

Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coa ...

group of peoples, and their ancestral grounds were based on the eastern shores of the Kitsap Peninsula. Seattle is named after the tribe's most famous leader,

Chief Seattle Chief Seattle ( – June 7, 1866) was a Suquamish and Duwamish chief. A leading figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in th ...

. The

Port Madison Indian Reservation The Port Madison Native Reservation is an Indigenous Reservation in the U.S. state of Washington belonging to the Suquamish Tribe, a federally recognized indigenous nation and signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855. Location The reserv ...

, located between

Poulsbo Poulsbo ( ) is a city on Liberty Bay in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is the smallest of the four cities in Kitsap County. The population was 9,200 at the 2010 census and an estimated 10,927 in 2018. The area was historically in ...

and

Agate Pass Agate Pass or Agate Passage is a high-current tidal strait in Puget Sound connecting Port Madison and mainland Kitsap County in the US state of Washington. It lies between Bainbridge Island and the mainland of the Kitsap Peninsula near Suquamis ...

, is the modern Suquamish tribal center. The Kitsap Peninsula is also home to the

Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, formerly known as the Port Gamble Indian Community of the Port Gamble Reservation or the Port Gamble Band of S'Klallam Indians is a federally recognized tribe of S'Klallam people, located on the Kitsap Peninsula i ...

, another branch of the Coast Salish people, whose tribal center is the

Port Gamble S'Klallam Indian Reservation The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, formerly known as the Port Gamble Indian Community of the Port Gamble Reservation or the Port Gamble Band of S'Klallam Indians is a federally recognized tribe of S'Klallam people, located on the Kitsap Peninsula i ...

at Little Boston located on the northwest coast of the peninsula. And though their main center now is at Skokomish the Hood Canal was the main demesne of the communities of the

Twana Twana is the collective name for a group of nine Coast Salish peoples in the northern-mid Puget Sound region, most of whom are extinct or are now subsumed into other groups and organized tribes. The Skokomish are the main surviving group and se ...

, another subgroup of the Coast Salish. The peninsula is connected to the eastern shore of Puget Sound by

Washington State Ferries Washington State Ferries (WSF) is a government agency that operates automobile and passenger ferry service in the U.S. state of Washington as part of the Washington State Department of Transportation. It runs ten routes serving 20 terminals loc ...

, which run from

to Downtown Seattle, from Kingston to

Edmonds Edmonds may refer to: * Edmonds (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the surname) * Edmonds, Washington, a city in Washington, US ** Edmonds station (Washington), a passenger train station in Washington, US * Edmonds station (SkyTr ...

and from Southworth to

West Seattle West Seattle is a conglomeration of neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington, United States. It comprises two of the thirteen districts, Delridge and Southwest, and encompasses all of Seattle west of the Duwamish River. It was incorporated as an i ...

via

Vashon Island Vashon is a census-designated place (CDP) in King County, Washington, United States. It covers an island alternately called Vashon Island or Vashon–Maury Island, the largest island in Puget Sound south of Admiralty Inlet. The population was 10, ...

, by the

Tacoma Narrows Bridge The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a pair of twin suspension bridges that span the Tacoma Narrows strait of Puget Sound in Pierce County, Washington. The bridges connect the city of Tacoma with the Kitsap Peninsula and carry State Route 16 (know ...

from Point Fosdick to Tacoma, and to the northeastern shore of the main

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 th ...

by the

Hood Canal Bridge The Hood Canal Bridge (officially William A. Bugge Bridge) is a floating bridge in the northwest United States, located in western Washington. It carries State Route 104 across Hood Canal of Puget Sound and connects the Olympic and Kitsap P ...

Cities and towns

* Annapolis * Bangor * Belfair *

* Brownsville * Colby *

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

* Chico * East Port Orchard * Erlands Point *

Gig Harbor Gig Harbor is the name of both a bay on Puget Sound and a city on its shore in Pierce County, Washington,. The population was 12,029 at the 2020 census. Gig Harbor is one of several cities and towns that claim to be "the gateway to the Olymp ...

* Gorst * Hansville * Illahee * Indianola * Keyport * Kingston * Kitsap Lake *

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

* Navy Yard City * Olalla * Parkwood * Port Gamble *

Port Orchard Port Orchard, part of Washington state's Puget Sound, is the strait that separates Bainbridge Island on the east from the Kitsap Peninsula on the west. It extends from Liberty Bay and Agate Pass in the north to Sinclair Inlet and Rich Passage ...

* Purdy * Retsil * Seabeck * Silverdale * Southworth *

* Tahuya * Tracyton

Bays and inlets

* Anderson Cove *

Appletree Cove Appletree Cove is a bay and estuary of Puget Sound on the Kitsap Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. The cove is fed by Carpenter Creek; its estuary is a tidal flood zone that fills and empties at high and low tides. Appletree Cove was name ...

* Big Beef Harbor * Burke Bay * Burley Lagoon * Carr Inlet * Case Inlet *

Chico Bay Chico () means ''small'', ''boy'' or ''child'' in the Spanish language. It is also the nickname for Francisco in the Portuguese language (). Chico may refer to: Places *Chico, California, a city *Chico, Montana, an unincorporated community *Chic ...

* Clam Bay * Colvos Passage * Coon Bay * Dogfish Bay *

Dyes Inlet Dyes Inlet is an inlet on the Kitsap Peninsula in western Washington, USA. Silverdale, Washington is located on the north shore of the inlet and has a marina, waterfront park, boat ramp, and boardwalk. The west shoreline is part of Chico, Washing ...

Hood Canal Hood Canal is a fjord forming the western lobe, and one of the four main basins,Horsehead Bay *

Liberty Bay Liberty Bay is a narrow inlet extending about 4 miles in a northerly direction from the northwest part of Port Orchard, adjacent to the Kitsap Peninsula in Western Washington. Background The southeastern half of Liberty Bay is very narrow. The ...

* Little Beef Harbor * Little Clam Bay * Miller Bay * Mud Bay * Nesika Bay * Olalla Bay * Orrs Cove * Ostrich Bay * Oyster Bay *

Phinney Bay Phinney Bay is a small bay, 0.8 miles long, off the north end of the Port Washington Narrows in the Kitsap Peninsula in western Washington, USA. The city of Bremerton Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 ...

* Pilots Cove * Port Gamble *

Port Madison Port Madison, sometimes called Port Madison Bay, is a deep water bay located on the west shore of Puget Sound in western Washington. It is bounded on the north by Indianola, on the west by Suquamish, and on the south by Bainbridge Island. Port Ma ...

Port Washington Narrows The Port Washington Narrows is a tidal strait located in Bremerton, Washington, United States. The northwest entrance is marked on the west side by Rocky Point, and the southeast entrance is located at Point Turner on the west side and Point Herro ...

* Races Cove *

Rich Passage Rich Passage is a tidal strait in Puget Sound, allowing access to Bremerton, Washington, Sinclair Inlet, and Dyes Inlet. It separates Bainbridge Island from the Manchester area of Kitsap Peninsula. Due to the activities at Puget Sound Naval ...

* Seabeck Bay *

Sinclair Inlet Sinclair Inlet is a shallow embayment in the western part of Puget Sound in Kitsap County, Washington, USA. It has a maximum depth of 20 meters. It is the southwestern extension of Port Orchard, and it touches the shores of three of Kitsap County ...

* Skunk Bay * Stavis Bay * Stiles Lagoon *

Tacoma Narrows The Tacoma Narrows (or the Narrows), a strait, is part of Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. A navigable maritime waterway between glacial landforms, the Narrows separates the Kitsap Peninsula from the city of Tacoma. The Narrows i ...

Yukon Harbor Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

Headlands

* Anderson Point * Apple Cove Point * Bass Point * Command Point * Elwood Point * Erlands Point * Foulweather Bluff * Hood Point * King Spit * Lemolo Point *

Madrona Point Madrona may refer to: Places Canada * Madrona Island, an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia * Madrona Point, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia between the communities of Parksville ...

Manette Peninsula The Manette Peninsula is a headland that is part of the larger Kitsap Peninsula, located on the eastern flank of the Kitsap Peninsula, in western Washington, United States. Geography The Manette Peninsula is bounded on the west by Port Washingto ...

* Middle Point * Norwegian Point * Orchard Point *

Pearson Point Bird Island ( es, Isla Pájaro) is long and wide, separated from the western end of South Georgia by Bird Sound. It is part of the British overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, also claimed by Argentina as part of ...

* Pilot Point * Point Bolin * Point Glover * Point Herron * Point Jefferson * Point Julia *

Point Misery Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Poin ...

Point No Point Point No Point is an outcropping of land on the northeast point of the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington (U.S. state), Washington, the United States. It was the location of the signing of the Point No Point Treaty and is the site of the Point No Poi ...

* Point Southworth * Point Turner * President Point * Rocky Point * Ross Point * Ruby Point *

Salisbury Point Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wi ...

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern ...

* Teekalet Bluff * Tekiu Point * Twin Spits *

University Point A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

* Virginia Point * Waterman Point * Windy Point, Puget Sound

References

External links

*
Kitsap Peninsula Visitor Information
{{Coord, 47, 32, 59, N, 122, 49, 05, W, display=title, source:GNIS Landforms of Kitsap County, Washington Landforms of Mason County, Washington Landforms of Pierce County, Washington Landforms of Puget Sound Peninsulas of Washington (state)