Robin Donnelly for the Old Military Road Trail Committee… What a great time to be exploring our trails. Covid seems to have made us all more aware of the healing power of nature and our fortunate ability to be part of it. As summer is waning, fall colors are taking over for the vibrancy of  Continue Reading

SJI Historical Museum is back with their History Column for September… September is traditionally when we devote the history column to something related to “back to school days.” We have featured students, schoolhouses, and teachers of many different eras. Since this is such an unusual year for all our students and teachers, we thought it appropriate  Continue Reading

The League of Women Voters of the San Juans and Soroptimist International of Friday Harbor joined together for a short Covid-compliant march to mark 100 years since the certification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United States giving women the right to vote. Meeting at Linde Park, also known as the ball  Continue Reading

Since 2017, the Historical Museum has added nearly 3,000 historical images to our photographic collection, through gifts, acquisitions and found treasures. The number of digitally scanned, researched and catalogued images illustrating the history of San Juan Island, now tallies 5,500. As a result, we have outgrown our existing capacity to safely and securely store the  Continue Reading

In those days parking was right there on the Fair Grounds.  The Ferris Wheel was a main attraction in 1954.

SJ Historical Museum with their History Column for August… It was pretty easy to choose a topic for this month’s history column. Last month’s column suggested a theme when we came upon the fun photo from the 1981 Fourth of July Parade and decided to use it, since we didn’t have a parade this year.  Continue Reading

Without a parade this year, we’ve been thinking of festive 4th of July celebrations from years past. Here is a photo from the 1981 parade, shining the spotlight of history on the Islanders Bank float that year. It’s tradition for Islanders Bank to enter a float in the parade, and this one was noteworthy because  Continue Reading

The National Park Service has been busy making progress on construction of the new visitor center out there. Here’s the latest from their construction blog… Update: Site Observation Update Week of June 16th This week’s work has no discernable theme apart from a great deal of focus outdoors. With superb weather, we began work on  Continue Reading

This article was written by Mike Vouri, local author and former NPS Historian… The heat was already stifling at 11 a.m. in late July 2004 when I encountered four Canadian reenactor colleagues taking a breather in the shade at the corner of Little and Douglas roads. Clad in the scarlet and blue wool uniforms of  Continue Reading

SJI Historical Museum is back with their History Column for June… Although it’s now been a little over 100 years since the outbreak of the Spanish Flu, many of us grew up hearing a grandparent’s stories of family experiences with the double punch of world war and an influenza pandemic known as the Spanish Flu.  Continue Reading

Here’s this month’s history column from the San Juan Historical Society and Museum…Remember when we could happily pose this close to each other in a crowd of people, just like the Hemphill family and friends did around 1910 in the photograph above? As everyone knows, we currently live in a time defined by a novel coronavirus,  Continue Reading

We hear from John Miller in response to the Update’s recent history column, From Camas to Oysters (and “Please pass the peas.”) featuring a label from the San Juan Islands Cannery. John shared with us two labels from San Juan Canning Co…

Here’s this month’s history column from the San Juan Historical Society and Museum… Our March history columns generally feature one or more of our community’s women, as March 8 is International Women’s Day and the entire month is known as Women’s History Month. This year marks two significant, national level Centennials in our history where  Continue Reading

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… There will be no lunch served at the Mullis Center on Monday. Presidents Day is a federal holiday; banks and the post office are also closed. Before the Uniform Federal Holidays act of 1971 we observed Abraham Lincoln’s birthday  Continue Reading

  Here’s this month’s history column from the San Juan Historical Society and Museum… Since February is a month known for Valentine’s Day decorations in store windows and rows of sweetheart cards for sale, we thought we would see what has been preserved in the San Juan Historical Museum’s archives from festive holidays of yesteryear. The classic  Continue Reading

Don’t forget – this is happening today – The first Know Your Island Walk of the new year will be on Saturday, January 25, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, starting at American Camp’s Redoubt. Mike Vouri, retired National Park historian, will lead this walk — as he did the very first walk in the series  Continue Reading

The first Know Your Island Walk of the new year will be on Saturday, January 25, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, starting at American Camp’s Redoubt. Mike Vouri, retired National Park historian, will lead this walk — as he did the very first walk in the series in January 2011. The Redoubt, a military defensive  Continue Reading

Here’s this month’s history column from the San Juan Historical Society and Museum… When this editorial cartoon appeared in the November 24, 1949 issue of the Friday Harbor Journal, no one could have foreseen what was to come. It heralded the beginning of one doozy of a severe winter from Old Man Winter or more scientifically,  Continue Reading

It’s happening in Port Townsend in 2020, from July 7th to 10th… The Washington Trust is pleased to announce that the application for our annual Youth Heritage Project is now open. This year’s program will focus on the recently designated Maritime Washington National Heritage Area, exploring the rich maritime history of Port Townsend and experiencing  Continue Reading

Boyd Pratt launched his newest book, “Island Farming: History and Landscape of Agriculture in the San Juan Islands,” at the Grange Hall to a large, enthusiastic crowd of farmers, Grange members, and others on Friday evening. He highlighted three themes from the book – bygone farmers, fruit-growing, and sheep-raising – but there are a multitude  Continue Reading

This year has been a year of roof replacements at the San Juan Historical Museum. Recently, the roof of the James King family home was replaced. The prior wood shingle roof had reached the end of its useful life and the time had come to undertake the project which was done by Bobby Ross Construction.  Continue Reading

Lynn Danaher shares this invitation with you… Due to our long-standing friendships with some of the residents, we have been invited by the Pitcairn islanders themselves to spend a month on Pitcairn exploring petroglyph sites and conducting forensic archaeology.  We will be the first to test for DNA at a historical burial site in Adamstown,  Continue Reading