The wonders of Whidbey Island

Sunset, August, 1997

Spend a three-day weekend enjoying the bustling arts scene and treasures from both land and sea

Mix salt air with the sweet scent of wild berries, dry grass, and warm fir trees and you have a perfume that is the essence of Whidbey Island in summer.

It's a seductive aroma, and one that must have impressed Joseph Whidbey, master of the HMS Discovery, when he charted this 48-mile-long island at the entrance to Puget Sound for Captain George Vancouver in June of 1792.

Skagit Indians greeted Whidbey with gifts of roasted roots, dried fish, and venison. Sandy beaches and bluffs dotted the island's shoreline, forests of Douglas fir cloaked either end, and verdant prairies blanketed the middle - just as they do today One early settler called it a "paradise of nature."

More than 200 years later, the produce and population have changed, but the bounty of the land, the sea, and the inspiringly beautiful vistas continue to attract settlers, albeit a new breed - artists. And, though farmed berries have become a signature product of the island, you can still catch the heavenly scent of wild berries.

DECEPTION PASS TO COUPEVILLE

There are several ways to reach the island - the most dramatic is from the north over the rocky cleft spanned by Deception Pass Bridge. The inspiring views over the rushing waters of the channel offer a panorama that includes Skagit Bay to the east and the San Juan Islands to the west. Deception Pass State Park, at 4,128 acres, flanks both sides of the channel.

As summer fruits and vegetables ripen, farm stands crop up all over the island. There's more of that wonderful berry aroma at Dugualla Bay Farms, 3 1/2 miles from the park, where Carolyn Hulbert makes fresh berry jams and sauces daily. Try an ice cream cone topped with warm sauce.

A few miles farther south lies the bustling naval community of Oak Harbor, the island's largest town. It looks modern along the highway, but a sense of history still resonates in its old town and marina. Wind along Madrona Way and you'll eventually arrive at the entrance to the historic Captain Whidbey Inn. Stop by the inn's cozy bar for a strawberry daiquiri, followed by steamed mussels. Better yet, eat on the inn's deck overlooking Penn Cove, or stay a night and try a more elaborate mussel dish in the restaurant.

Return to Madrona Way and you'll soon spot about three dozen rafts where Ian Jefferds and family grow their popular shellfish; there is no retail outlet on site, but Penn Cove Shellfish products are found on menus all over the country and at many island restaurants.

Toby's Tavern in Coupeville sells the most. It's a funky, coveside spot on Front Street where you can sample the shellfish in a classic wine, garlic, and basil broth. Coupeville is one of the oldest towns in Washington. And with its wharf, clapboard storefronts, and Victorian homes (many were built by sea captains), the seaport village looks much as it did in the 1800s.

The town's arts and crafts festival is held the second weekend of every August. The Coupeville Arts Center, created in 1986, draws artists and instructors from all over the world to participate in needlework, painting, and photography workshops, which range from weekend courses for beginners to longer courses for advanced artists.

The Penn Cove Gallery on Front Street showcases local artists, and you can watch potter Jan McGregor at work in her streetfront studio nearby.

To get a map for a self-guided walking tour of the town, stop by the Island County Historical Society Museum. It's adjacent to the wharf that was once the town's access to the world, when tall ships carried produce and timber to distant ports. The museum's exhibit, From Bow to Plow - Timber, Tillage and Taters, focuses on that time.

EBEY'S LANDING

"Where the land and the sky and the sea come together, you can slip through a crack and see the past and the future," according to the Native Americans who first lived on Ebey's Prairie. The plain is now part of Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, a 17,400-acre national park encompassing prairies, woodlands, uplands, Penn Cove, Coupeville, and a western coastal strip along Admiralty Inlet. Created by Congress in 1978 "to preserve and protect a rural community," the reserve is the first of its kind in the country.

It's home to some of the oldest farms in Washington. Scenic development rights to key sites are owned by the National Park Service, but farmers still independently own and work their land. An almost magical sense of the past remains - writer Ivan Doig described it as a "rural America of the last century."

If you drive west from Coupeville on State Highway 20 and go south on Ebey Road, you'll find yourself in the midst of Ebey Prairie. Continue south to Ebey's Landing, a beachfront stop. From here, hike the Bluff Trail northwest to see Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, the Olympic Mountains, and Mount Rainier - icy peaks sculpted by glaciers thousands of years ago, just as deep-water Penn Cove and the prairie were formed.

Northwest of Ebey's Landing is Fort Ebey State Park. You can hike the beach from the landing south to Fort Casey State Park and Admiralty Head Lighthouse. Both parks offer much in the way of exploring, including old battlements. You can even stay at Fort Casey Inn, the 1909 officers' quarters, whose comfortable no-nonsense accommodations are particularly suited to families.