NPS Website; Local Website; Island County History Museum
WHAT IS IT?Rural farms, a Victorian seaport downtown, rugged Pacific coastline and shimmering prairies protected from development by a series of scenic easements. The Park aims to capture and commemorate mid-19th Century Puget Sound exploration and settlement. The Site includes much of the central portion of Whidbey Island.
BEAUTY (8/10)
Ebey’s Landing NHR’s glistening sun-streaked prairie landscape is a shocking departure from the misty greens of the Olympic peninsula, located a short ferry ride away. The farms and grain fields feel like Kansas until you spy the towering Olympic Mountains in the distance. Those mountains block the rain clouds and give the area gleaming sun light for 300 of the year’s 365 days.
While the majority of the NHR’s protected land is prairies, the Park also includes the charming Victorian two-block Front Street of Coupeville with its antique shops, memento stores and restaurants all housed in historical buildings.
The narrow coastline, littered with driftwood, overlooks the gorgeous Strait of Juan de Fuca. The mountains of the Olympic peninsula and the greenery of Vancouver Island define the horizon.
HISTORICAL INTEREST (4/10)
The Site enjoys an historical charm, its contents trapped by zoning restrictions and scenic easements in a pre-modern turn-of-the-century world. At the same time, nothing particularly historic ever occurred here. Settlement began in the 1850’s and farming started soon after. Many of the historic Front Street’s buildings were built in the 1880’s when Coupeville became a busy seaport.
CROWDS (7/10)
Hundreds of people pleasantly roamed up and down Front Street traveling in and out of the quaint storefronts. All of them (yes, all) were eating ice cream. Kapaw’s Iskreme, located on Site in the midst of Coupeville’s Front Street, sells $2.50 homemade waffle cones filled with wonderful scoops of fresh ice cream. See if you can resist. We couldn’t.
EASE OF USE/ACCESS (2/5)
Coupeville is located in the center of Whidbey Island just off Washington State Route 20. You do not need to take the ferry to Whidbey; a bridge connects the Isle to the mainland at Deception Pass. Via the terrestrial route, Coupeville is about a 40-mile southeast drive from Interstate 5 at Mount Vernon.
If you are coming from the south (the Seattle area), you probably want to take the Washington State Ferry that goes from Mukilteo to Clinton. From the Olympic Peninsula, take the Port Townsend to Keystone ferry.
CONCESSIONS/BOOKSTORE (2/5)There is no NPS Visitor Center and therefore no NPS bookstore. The Island County Historical Museum sells local history titles and Coupeville’s Historic Front Street boasts a plethora of shopping opportunities. Are any of these stores an actual part of the Park? We are not sure.
COSTS (4/5)
Visiting the town of Coupeville and its immediate rural surroundings is free. It costs nothing to park in the lovely hamlet’s streets.
RANGER/GUIDE TO TOURIST RATIO (2/5)
No Rangers, but a volunteer Nature Conservancy docent answered questions at the Ebey’s Landing Beach. That should count for something.
TOURS/CLASSES (4/10)
Nine wayside panels, scattered throughout the Reserve, explain a bit about 19th Century Puget Sound life. We found only eight of them. You can pick up a dense twelve-page Self-Guided Walking Tour of Historic Coupeville booklet at the Island County Historical Museum. The booklet goes into great depth about 64 historic buildings located in town. It is a great way to become acquainted with your surroundings.
Over ten miles of loop hiking trails take you through the prairies and downtown Coupeville, into the dense woodlands of Fort Ebey State Park and onto the beach. Other parts of the trail travel onto cliffs overlooking the Strait and the avian diversity of the inland Perego’s Lake. The hikes travel in and out of public and private land, past houses and through ecological preserves.
FUN (7/10)
Sunny day, 75 degrees, beautiful surroundings, bustling Victorian Front Street, waffle cone of homemade ice cream in hand; sounds like fun to us, but not your typical National Parks experience. Ebey’s Landing NHR does not feel like a National Park. We are uncertain if anyone on Coupeville’s streets realized they were in federally protected area. Probably not.
In Ebey’s Landing NHR’s case, the lack of NPS presence is a good thing. Nearly all of the land in the Park is privately owned but because of the federal protection, the landscape is permanently preserved in time. There are few modern buildings within the Park’s boundaries. No fast food chains, no behemoth supermarkets, no multi-story motels. Central Whidbey Island is a slow, peaceful, old world of its own and an agreeable way to spend a weekend day.
WOULD WE RECOMMEND? (4/10)We had a terrific and relaxed time at Ebey’s Landing NHR, but recommend visiting the Seattle area’s other tourist attractions (Mt. Rainier, Olympic NP, the San Juan Islands, Seattle city, Mt. Baker and others) first.
TOTAL 44/80
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