A store and post office serve the community, represented by a row of attractive houses along the shore of White Beach Bay, an indentation of West Sound. West Sound is an inlet on the southwest side of Orcas Island. It was named Guerriere Bay by Cmdr. Charles Wilkes, for a British ship captured by U.S.S. Constitution during the War of 1812. In 1858, that name was replaced when the present...

Points of Interest

West Sound Community Hall

The Deer Harbor Community Clubhouse dates to 1905. In that year, the building was completed as a school. As early as 1892 the first schoolhouse was built on this site but was moved just prior to 1905. The building had two rooms, one for girls and one for boys as attendance reached 75 pupils. The building was used as a school until 1925 when District 16 was consolidated with the...

A resort district on a small bight of the same name. Along the western cliffs of the shady green cove are feldspar deposits which reach 60 feet in thickness and 300 in depth. Feldspar is used in glazing pottery and manufacturing glass, but the demand has not justified development at this point. The town was named for the bay on which it is located. A post office was established at...

Points of Interest

Pole Pass

Crane Island

This range is on the western peninsula of the island with an upper elevation of 1,497 ft., extending about five miles southwest and northeast. The name was placed on British admiralty charts by Capt. Henry Richards, of the Royal Navy in 1859. The profile of the range as viewed from the east, has a resemblance to the back of a turtle. On the southernmost summit of the Turtleback Range is...

The school is an outstanding example of a frame, gable roof, one-room schoolhouse from the territorial period. Built in 1888 and believe to be the oldest schoolhouse still standing in San Juan County, the modest structure has retained excellent integrity and continues to reflect its historic character as a pioneer educational facility and an early center of community life on Orcas Island.

A small community, though the largest on Orcas Island is at the head of East Sound. It was named for the body of water on which it is located. Comfortable old houses with orchards are scattered behind the few frame business buildings along the bay shore. This seven mile long bay, with an average width of two to three miles is in the central area of Orcas Island extending north...

Points of Interest

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

Fishing Bay

North Beach

Light Station

Sucia Island

Ship Bay

Orcas Island Historical Museum

Waldron Island

A resort on the east shore of East Sound at the head of Cascade Bay. It was founded by Andrew Newhall in 1890 as a saw mill named the Cascade Lumber Company. At that time, the post office was named Newhall. In 1905, Robert Moran, a prominent ship builder, bought Newhall's interest and on June 15, 1906, he changed the name to its present form. Moran built an estate, which...

A concrete bridge and flat arch marking the southern entrance to Moran State Park, a 3,325-acre tract donated by the pioneer shipbuilder, Robert Moran. The round arch, originally constructed in 1928, was later enlarged to allow bigger vehicles to pass under. This 4,804-acre park is on the east peninsula of Orcas Island. It was donated to the state by the famous ship builder, Robert Moran, who also served as mayor...

Points of Interest

Camp Moran

Cascade Lake

Stone Tower

Cascade Falls

A community on the east shore of East Sound at the head of Buck Bay. The name was adopted on March 3, 1890 when a post office was established. The name, Rosario, was proposed but was refused because of another post office by that name in the state. John Ohlert, owner of a local store and dance hall, suggested the name of his mother in Germany, Olga Ohlert, and it...

Points of Interest

Strawberry Barreling Plant

Buck Bay

Doe Bay is a small former fishing resort in a wooded cove. The Doe Bay General Store and Post Office built in 1908, is representative of turn-of-the-century, rural commercial establishment which served the needs of the surrounding agricultural community. One of the few remaining unaltered examples of “false front” architecture in San Juan County, the store is closely associated with the development of agricultural trade and commerce in the isolate...