Some Whidbey Island History

Whidbey Island was discovered by Europeans in 1792 by Captain George Vancouver. In May of that year, Joseph Whidbey along with Peter Puget began to map and explore the areas of Puget Sound. Joseph Whidbey circumnavigated the island in June, and Captain Vancouver named it after him.

The first known overnight stay on Whidbey Island by a non native American was by Catholic missionary Father Blanchet, while traveling across Puget Sound, on 26 May 1840.

Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, sailed the USS Vincennes into Penn Cove in 1841. There he found the largest Indian settlement of Puget Sound and noted that a mission had been started. Wilkes named the lower cove Holmes Harbor, after his assistant surgeon, Silas Holmes.

In 1850, Colonel Isaac N. Ebey became the first permanent settler on Whidbey Island, claiming a square mile of prairie with a southern shoreline on Admiralty Inlet. Even though he was farming potatoes and wheat on his land, he was also the postmaster for Port Townsend, Washington and rowed a boat daily across the inlet in order to work at the post office there. On August 11, 1857, Colonel Ebey was murdered and beheaded by Haida Indians who travelled from the Queen Charlotte Islands. Ebey was 39 years old. Ebey was slain in retaliation for the killing of a Haida chief at Port Gamble. Fort Ebey was established in 1942 on the west side of the central part of the island, just northwest of Coupeville. The fort was named Ebey's Landing, in honor of Colonel Ebey. The house that Ebey lived in with his family still stands as a registered National Historical Reserve near the beachfront.

Admiralty Head Lighthouse is located in this area, on the grounds of Fort Casey State Park. The area around Coupeville is the federally protected Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, named in honor of Isaac Ebey.