Lilliwaup is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Mason County,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is located on the west shore of

Hood Canal Hood Canal is a fjord-like body of water that lies south of Admiralty Inlet in Washington State that some consider to be the western lobe and one of the five main basins of Puget Sound.U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...

passes through the town.

History

The name "Lilliwaup" comes from the

Twana Twana ( Twana: ) is the collective name for a group of nine Coast Salish peoples in the western Puget Sound region along much of Hood Canal. The Skokomish are the main surviving group and self-identify as the Twana today. The spoken language, ...

word /sləláwap/, meaning "cove, inlet". The area was settled by early pioneers by 1854. The town was officially

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted in 1890. The Olympic Exploring Expedition of 1890, led by Joseph O'Neil, made one of the earliest explorations of the

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus (Washington), Mount Olympus is the high ...

and the first crossing of the southern part of the range. The expedition began at Lilliwaup, bringing men and supplies up Hood Canal. O'Neil hoped to find a practical route between Hood Canal and the Pacific Ocean. The party left Lilliwaup in June 1890, west to the North Fork Skokomish River and

Lake Cushman Lake Cushman () is a lake and reservoir on the north fork of the Skokomish River in Mason County, Washington, United States. The lake originally was a long narrow broadening of the Skokomish River formed in a glacial trough and dammed by a termi ...

. From there a number of smaller parties explored in various directions, including one group that made the first recorded ascent of

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

. The main contingent of the expedition reached Hoquiam in October 1890. O'Neil did not find the practical route he had hoped for, but advocated for the creation of a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

. When O'Neil's exploring expedition first arrived at Lilliwaup in early 1890 they found the town almost non-existent. A member of the party described Lilliwaup as "a town with one house". But in September of the same year, when O'Neil again traveled to Lake Cushman via Lilliwaup more than 30 families had moved in. Soon after there was a store and two hotels. However, the townsite company went bankrupt a short time later and most of the people moved away. By the 1920s tourism was bringing new life to the region. The Lilliwaup Land and Resort Company was founded. There were reports that movie stars such as

Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

, and others were interested in buying homes in Lilliwaup, but they never came and the resort company folded.

Recreation

A nearby fish hatchery keeps the local waters stocked with

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

, which draws fishing enthusiasts to the area in the fall. A stairway provides public access to the round-rock beach, where picnicking, shellfish harvesting, fishing, and beachcombing are popular. Hood Canal oystersGold Creek
The Oyster Guide plucked from the shores are a local favorite.

References

External links

Hood Canal & South Puget Sound Tourism Unincorporated communities in Washington (state) Unincorporated communities in Mason County, Washington Washington (state) placenames of Native American origin {{MasonCountyWA-geo-stub