By Dorothy Rice Bennett

When I first moved to Sequim in 2010, I was disappointed that the nearest movie theatre was in Port Angeles, some twenty minutes away. I had lived in Phoenix and San Diego for most of my adult life and always had many movie multiplexes and live theatre venues close around me. What, I questioned, did a person do for entertainment in a small town? Where were all the arts?

Well, I soon found out that the Olympic Peninsula—though sparsely populated by comparison to Seattle and its environs—is far from a cultural wasteland. Indeed, the arts are alive and well in Sequim and on the whole peninsula as well. Compared to the big city, ticket prices are low and easy to obtain. And the talent isn’t to be believed until you experience it for yourself!

Theatre productions

A few months after my arrival, I connected with local theatre, both Readers Theatre+ and Olympic Theatre Arts. I started ushering for OTA, which has a big season each year of five shows performed in the main theatre seating 160 and three shows performed in the smaller, more flexible “gathering hall.” Ushering allowed me to see all the shows, and I was really impressed with the quality of the performances. I eventually became a member, a house manager, and then served three years on the OTA board. Productions have ranged from the musical I Do! I Do! to the still controversial The Vagina Monologues and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Sequim residents love comedies, so OTA delivers several each year.

The Olympic Theatre Arts Center not only houses OTA’s adult theatre productions and children’s theatre training program, the building also serves as Sequim’s performing arts center. Sequim Ballet, visiting musicians, various choruses, holiday music shows, and fund-raising events are performed on its two stages. One of my favorite evenings was a presentation involving four grand pianos on the main stage, all played at the same time by four pianists of different ages. An amazing evening and, of course, the house was full!

Beyond the confines of Sequim, friends alerted me to Port Angeles Community Players and another group that did summer musicals, Port Angeles Light Opera Association. I was soon driving to PA to see theatre as well. In the other direction from Sequim, a semi-professional theatre group, Key City Public Theatre, has a long and successful history in Port Townsend.

Sequim High School for more than fifty years has produced a spring musical—filling its large auditorium with audiences delighted by stellar singing and acting, sophisticated stage settings, and amazing costumes. Last year’s Cinderella featured costume changes in front of our eyes that were purely magical! The high school stage is also the scene for a summer musical put on by Ghostlight Productions, run by the Lorentzen family—all talented singers, actors, and musicians. Ghostlight was responsible recently for the first West Coast production of the Tony Award winning musical Titanic.

Orchestras and choruses

Port Angeles has an excellent symphony orchestra. The full orchestra, and the smaller chamber orchestra, perform both in PA and in Sequim during their annual season. A couple summers ago, the PA Symphony joined with the Port Angeles and Sequim High School choirs for a “Pops & Picnic” performance at the Sequim Boys and Girls Club. Dinner was served before the concert, and the audience gave the music a rousing reception. In a gymnasium setting, the orchestra disappeared behind the chorus members, but we could hear the musicians just fine!

Speaking of music, there is no end of musical opportunities in Sequim and the surrounding areas. The Peninsula Singers, a volunteer group with a thirty-year history, does two main programs each year, one before Christmas and a second close to Easter in the spring. The group performs classical, operatic, Broadway, film, and folk musical numbers. Sequim also has a community orchestra and a city band.

In Port Angeles there is the North West Women’s Chorale, which has been performing on the Peninsula for the past several years. In Sequim, there is the Olympic Peninsula Men’s Chorus, which offers barbershop singing; the group also has a quartet, “No Batteries Required.”

The Chamber Music Society of Port Townsend is another excellent local group that focuses on talented young artists and offers training sessions in the summer months.. I have seen them perform at the Quimper Universalist Unitarian Church in PT. There is also the Port Townsend Community Orchestra, founded in 1987, which presents concerts during the year.

Festival and series events

Every summer for several days, visitors and locals enjoy the Olympic Music Festival, which features world class chamber musicians performing a variety of classical music pieces. Once centered in a barn in Chimacum, the event has been recently transferred to Fort Worden in Port Townsend. In 2107, it will be held July 15 and 16 and again August 12 through September 10 in the Wheeler Theater at the fort.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sequim for several years has offered a monthly program called “Music Live With Lunch.” Area musicians perform half-hour concerts in the church sanctuary, followed by a meal, prepared by church volunteers, in the community hall. Proceeds from the event benefit local charities. The monthly program is very popular, drawing large audiences and excellent local musicians: singers, pianists, guitarists, cellists, and violinists. Patrons have been fortunate to see amazing talent, including the young violinist Kate Powers who first performed when she was thirteen, having begun violin studies at age ten. Now ready for college, Powers plays both classical violin—she has already appeared with the Port Angeles Symphony—and fiddle. She is an incredible young talent!

Speaking of the fiddle, the Washington State Old Time Fiddlers Association, Section 13, meets in Sequim at the Grange Hall on the prairie side of town. Each month, on the second Saturday, adult and young fiddlers tune up to present an afternoon concert open to the public free of charge. If you enjoy fiddle music, the Grange is the place to be.

I know I haven’t mentioned all the performers and venues on the Olympic Peninsula, but these are ones I have personally experienced. In any given week, there is always a performance somewhere. On some weekends, there are so many events it is not possible to see them all. Consequently, rural although we are, we do not lack for entertainment!

For more information on these groups, their specific locations, and their performances, please see the following:

http://olympictheatrearts.org/OTA/

http://www.porttownsendorchestra.org/orchestra/

http://centrum.org/port-townsend-chamber-music-festival/

http://portangelessymphony.org

http://wotfa.org

http://ghostlight-productions.com

http://www.sequimcommunityorchestra.org

http://www.sequimcityband.org

http://www.olympicmusicfestival.org

http://www.pacommunityplayers.com

http://www.keycitypublictheatre.org

http://www.peninsulasingers.org/PeninsulaSingers/first.html

http://www.nwwomenschorale.org

http://opmenschorus.com

https://www.facebook.com/SHS.Drama.Department/

http://www.stlukesparish.net/serving/music-live/

 

 By Dorothy Rice Bennett    

When summer comes to the Olympic Peninsula, temperatures rise to the high 70s and low 80s, the sky is blue, and it’s time for outdoor adventures. August is usually a very special month with truly wonderful sunny days.

During two such summers since I moved here, I have spent one warm August day traveling to Whidbey Island. Whidbey isn’t far from here, just a hop by ferry from Port Townsend to Coopeville. Once you arrive at Keystone landing, it’s just about a mile to a wonderful pair of historic landmarks—Fort Casey State Park and Admiralty Head Lighthouse.

So, after making a ferry reservation, we load the SUV with a picnic lunch, grab the dog leashes and the dogs, tuck everyone into the vehicle and head east on the 101 highway to Discovery Bay, turn left onto the state 20 highway headed to Port Townsend. Just south of the main part of town, we see the ferry docks on our right and line up as instructed to wait for the next ferry. As part of the Washington State Ferry system, the Pt. Townsend to Coupeville ferry run is made on a smaller vessel—which is the reason for reservations. Still space for quite a few cars, SUVs and trucks on board and a comfortable passenger cabin a deck above with outdoor spots for photo ops.

Once loaded, the ferry crosses a portion of the Admiralty Inlet (that connects the Straits of Juan de Fuca to the west and Puget Sound to the south) and slides into the Keystone landing. The main part of Coupeville is  about three miles away on the continuation of highway 20. Fort Casey is much closer. You leave the ferry dock and go left on S. Engle Road for less than a mile and turn into the entrance to the park at 1280 Engle Road.

Built for defense

Fort Casey was built in the late 1800s and was used for defense as part of the “Triangle of Fire” that included Fort Worden and Fort Flagler. Each had barracks and other government buildings and gun emplacements, or batteries, to protect the Puget Sound against military attack. At Fort Casey, there are several batteries available to be explored; these were used by soldiers being trained at this location during World War I and II. Fort Casey houses rare 10-inch guns mounted and on display. The park itself contains nearly 1,000 acres with considerable saltwater shoreline. Campsites and picnicking are available; the one-time military barracks are now used as conference facilities. There are beautiful views for photographers, including snow covered Mt. Baker to the north.

The the casual visitor, the heart of the park focuses on several gun batteries that sit on bluffs overlooking the water. They are still in good condition—not true of all gun emplacements along the Puget Sound and the San Juan Straits—allowing you to walk and climb all over them (There are several steps and grassy knolls to climb—I remember because my apricot toy poodle didn’t like the steps and I had to find another way to reach the batteries!). You can get up close and personal to the guns. There is also a hiking trail that runs along the shoreline through the fort. Children and dogs have open spaces to enjoy; there is a spot for kite flying and a designated remote-control glider area. Guided tours of the gun batteries are available on weekends during the summer months; information is posted at a kiosk near Battery Worth.

A gem of a lighthouse

On high ground within park boundaries sits Admiralty Head Lighthouse. Opened in 1903 and beautiful in appearance, today’s Admiralty Head is the second lighthouse at the site and one which served only nineteen years before being shut down as a result of modern steam ships hugging the western shore of the Puget Sound. The lighthouse was reactivated briefly during World War II and was then painted olive drab. Today it is white stucco with red trim and a one-of-a-kind lighthouse, having indoor plumbing and a laundry room. The two-story structure includes three bedrooms.

During the summer months Admiralty Head can be visited daily. During most of the rest of the year it is open shorter hours and fewer days, completely closed only during mid winter. Visitors can climb to the tower and look out over the Puget Sound, as did original lighthouse keepers and the soldiers stationed at Fort Casey during the war years. There is also a gift shop and a museum that houses more than one Fresnel lamp originally used in area lighthouses.

Getting there for the day

From Sequim, allow a full day to visit Fort Casey and the Admiralty Head Lighthouse. Port Townsend is 45 minutes away, the ferry crossing is 30 minutes each way, and you need to allow some waiting time for the ferry (and make a reservation). The Coupeville route has occasional cancellations because of wind, tides, and mechanical issues, so be prepared for delays. On my first visit to Fort Casey, there was a two-hour wait to get back across to Port Townsend, so I know it does happen. If you have a picnic lunch with you, that will serve as a noontime meal. There are a couple of eateries close to the ferry landing and nearby Coopeville has nice restaurants, if you choose to stay for dinner. Should you want to return on the ferry before dinnertime, there are many good places to eat in Port Townsend.

There are also other beautiful spots to see on Whidbey Island, and we’ll get to those in another blog. Happy exploring!

For more information on schedules, state park fees, etc., before you go to Fort Casey, check the following:

http://parks.state.wa.us/505/Fort-Casey

http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=31

www.wsdot.com/ferries/schedule/

 

February 11, 2017

By Dorothy Rice Bennett

Did you ever see the movie An Officer And A Gentleman, starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger? Well, it’s a love story set at a fictional naval training base near Seattle. That much I knew, but until I moved to the Olympic Peninsula, I didn’t know that this favorite movie of mine was filmed largely at Fort Worden, just outside Port Townsend and barely an hour from Sequim.

Port Townsend deserves—and will receive—a blog of its own, but while exploring there one day with my partner, Connie Jenkins, I followed local signs to Fort Worden, which I had been told was interesting to visit. Some of the signs were confusing to me and I got lost a couple of times. Later I found that if I followed the main street of Port Townsend to the water’s edge, turned left and followed the last street by the water uphill and along the coastline, I passed a lot of homes and eventually reached the fort. You can’t miss it this way. (From Sequim, you take 101 to the east, and at Discovery Bay, turn left onto highway 20, and a few miles later again turn left at a stoplight to continue on 20 into downtown Port Townsend)

Colorful history

Fort Worden has an interesting military history, having been built as a US Army installation in 1902 to protect the Puget Sound and named for Rear Admiral John Lorimer Worden, commander of the USS Monitor in the Civil War. It is now managed, along with the accompanying Fort Worden State Park, as part of the Washington’s state park system. The fort’s white buildings—former barracks, officers’ homes, headquarters, and mess hall—are used for college classes and other educational programs, corporate meetings, summer camps, music festivals, restaurants, and rentals for visitors. Several of the main historic buildings are laid out in rows on both sides of a broad common grass field—a parade ground where troops once assembled and marched. Photo ops abound, and walking around these buildings offers visitors a unique sense of history. My personal favorite spot is the fort’s gift shop (since I am a T-shirt aficionado). Photos taken here for this blog are courtesy of Connie, who is good with a camera! We were picnicking that day and found a lovely shaded spot with a picnic table just off the main street—thanks to advice from gift shop staff.

Some aspects of the original Fort Worden are now incorporated into the neighboring hilly and tree-laden state park. A memory vault, two large gun batteries, several hiking trails, and roads named “Battery Way,” “Mule Barn Rd,” and “Searchlight Rd” are colorful park highlights. A large wetlands occupies one corner of the park; it was created to protect birdlife and is named “Chinese Gardens” after early farming efforts by Chinese immigrants. Compared to the highly developed Fort Worden, the state park portion of the property is a bit rustic, as reported by visitors. The gun batteries are crumbling and require care when visiting, and although the wetlands area has paths through it, hikers should expect to get wet.

In recent years, there has been much development at Fort Worden. Currently, camping at Fort Worden is being incorporated into the Washington park system, and soon camping reservations will be available through the main state park reservation system. (Trying to explain all this can be difficult, in that we have a fort and a state park adjoining each other on a point of land; they are intricately intertwined but you can visit the fort without having much to do with the park—a little different from usual state park facilities!)

Passing main buildings and the assembly field on Pershing Ave, you can turn left onto Harbor Defense Way and follow this road past Port Townsend Marine Science Center, RV parking areas, and shortly arrive at a rocky beach and Point Wilson Lighthouse. The Olympic Peninsula is extremely fortunate to have three lighthouses that are visible—and two that can be visited. (See earlier blogs about Cape Flattery Lighthouse on Tatoosh Island near Neah Bay and New Dungeness Lighthouse near Sequim.)

A lighthouse up close and personal

Point Wilson lighthouse is imposing and the most easily accessible of the three lighthouses. The building is notable because it has a 49-foot tower that is octagonal in shape to reduce wind pressure. Using grass, beach, and rocks, you can walk almost all the way around it. The lighthouse can be visited during summer months. Parking is available very close to the fenced structure. Photo opportunities exist from many directions. And the rocky beach (everything from pebbles to boulders) is an attraction of its own.

The lighthouse sits literally on a point of beachfront land named Point Wilson by Captain George Vancouver in 1792 for his colleague Captain George Wilson. The point marks the meeting of the Straits of Juan de Fuca and the Puget Sound and is a significant marker for ships passing through this area. Point Wilson has a very complex history beginning with a simple foghorn on the site; the current lighthouse was completed in 1914 and then automated in 1976. Buildings surrounding the lighthouse are remains from previous structures and were used as residences for lighthouse keepers and then occupied by Coast Guard personnel until 2000. The light, a fourth level Fresnel lens, is currently monitored from Port Angeles by the Coast Guard.

Flooding has threatened Point Wilson Lighthouse in recent years, and there have been plans for the State of Washington to take charge of the structure, incorporate it into Fort Worden State Park, and even move it to safer ground. Stay tuned.

Latest information suggests that you can visit the lighthouse from May 19 to Sept. 15 on Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m.

Port Townsend, Fort Worden and Fort Worden State Park, and Point Wilson Lighthouse are located close to Sequim. Well worth a nice afternoon journey to see it—or a day or more to explore all of it.

Before you go, check out some of these online sites for more information:

http://fortworden.org

http://www.olympicpeninsula.org/things-to-do/point-wilson-lighthouse

http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=108

 

 

January 7, 2016

By Dorothy Rice Bennett

The Olympic Peninsula, being a peninsula, is surrounded by water on three sides. In fact, the two largest counties on the peninsula, Clallam and Jefferson, have between them, more than four-hundred miles of saltwater coastline. This means lots of bluffs, cliffs, beaches, and incredible scenic beauty—much of it rugged and untamed in parks and public places. Lots to explore!

A friend of mine told me one day, when I was looking for a new coastal area to visit near my home in Sequim, that Salt Creek Recreation Area is a great place to see. Never having heard of this spot, a county park, I looked it up on the Internet. Once I had an idea what and where Salt Creek is, I decided to go. My partner, Connie, and I packed up our SUV and headed out with our two poodles one day in June 2013. We had lunch along with leashes and cameras and needed them all.

From Sequim, we took Highway 101 headed west and passed through Port Angeles. Shortly afterward, we found the exit to Highway 112, which goes from the 101 and travels first north and then west near the coastline of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. After about five miles on the 112, we exited onto Camp Hayden Road and were now headed straight to the coastline. After a brief drive, we came a split in the road, the right fork leading to the main entrance gate to Salt Creek Recreation Area. Through the evergreens, a delightful vista opened up before us.

[First, a reference to Camp Hayden. This was a World War II defense site, and portions of the bunkers remain on the property to be explored by visitors. A detailed history of Camp Hayden can be found on the Clallam County Parks website. The current Salt Creek county park has been developed on land left from Camp Hayden and sits on two levels.]

Views from the bluff

The upper or main level occupies a large bluff above the coastline. This area includes RV parking, tent camping sites, a picnic enclosure or ramada for large parties, a playground, an open field for games, rest rooms, fire pits, picnic tables, parking, overlooks to the Straits, and a path down to the beach below. (This path is a bit rugged for anyone unsure of foot). There are trails that provide bluff views and connection to an area known as Tongue Point. For day visitors, this upper area of the park is the best place to use for parking, picnics, and hiking. For those with horses, there is also a section with marked horse trails.

When we had finished our lunch and a walk around the upper area—which at the time was the only place we knew about—we got back into the SUV and drove out of the park, turning right onto the Crescent Beach Road. This travels westward through a private beach and camping area and then back to Highway 112 and the community of Joyce.

Hidden beauty

Imagine our surprise when we discovered on Crescent Beach Road a new section of the Salt Creek Recreation Area. Easy to miss because of the private beach just beyond, this part of the park has a small entrance, with just a few parking places, rest rooms, and a path down to a sandy beach. We followed that path and ended up beside the actual Salt Creek, which empties into the Straits. The day we visited, there was a mist hanging over the creek water. It was beautiful and eerie, and we have never seen that mist again during our many visits to the area. Our cameras came out, and we took a lot of pictures of the creek, the bluff to our right (which is part of the main park above), the monolith ahead and to our left (covered with trees on the top) and the rocky coastline that could be walked by the sure of foot.

We spent most of our time in a state of awe in this nearly hidden part of the park. We looked at the bluff, finding small caves, structures formed of driftwood and human hands, interesting rocks and shells, and small smooth pieces of white driftwood—the kind artists use to make figurines. The poodles loved romping, as far as their leashes would let them go. Connie ventured out onto the rocks to get better pictures of the monolith.

When we finally had absorbed as much beauty as we could manage for one trip, we climbed back into the SUV and drove into Joyce, then turned back toward Sequim. We knew we would bring visitors to this park, and we have done so, several times.

The Salt Creek Recreation Area is one of the Olympic Peninsula’s treasures—and it is only an hour from Sequim. Being a county park, Salt Creek is governed by the general rules of the Clallam County park system. Daytime visits for picnicking, hiking, etc., are free. There are fees for overnight stays, use of the picnic shelter, and the dump station. Reservations can be made—except in November and December, when it is first-come, first-serve.

If you are on the Olympic Peninsula, don’t miss Salt Creek Recreation Area!

For more information, check online http://www.clallam.net/Parks/saltcreekmap1.html

http://www.clallam.net/Parks/SaltCreek.html

http://www.clallam.net/Parks/index.html

http://www.clallam.net/Parks/CampHayden.html