The clouds were low on the water giving the morning a diffused look. It still smelled like summer, and as the dady wore on and broke up the marine layer the intensity of the sun seemed to say, “not so fast fall.” Together with the evergreens and the distinct smell of the sea, it was beginning of a perfect day in the Pacific Northwest. It was also a good beginning for the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend, Washington.

We stayed in Port Hadlock, located south of Port Townsend on Quimper Peninsula, which was briefly the site of a manufacturing plant that produced industrial solvent alcohol at the turn of the last century. With the burgeoning timber industry in the area, some of the waste products, bark and sawdust, were used to create this solvent that was in turn used to clean the hulls of ships. Port Townsend, being a harbor during the Victorian Age, was literally up the street with plenty of customers. The venture was short lived, however. The depression of 1882-85 and the failure to secure a working rail spur to the area saw a decline in population. Compounded by the importance of Seattle, Tacoma, and other places on Puget Sound, Port Townsend was suddenly out of the way. Perhaps built more on the hope of a return to the days of glory before the depression than the current reality, by 1903 when the alcohol plant was up and running there wasn’t enough business to keep the operation going and it lasted only three years.

Today the old plant has been resurrected as a hotel. Information at the desk identifies Ansel Adam’s grandfather as one of the principal investors in the failed enterprise. It sits at the end of the inlet behind the pleasure harbor and is known by its former status, the Old Alcohol Plant. Viewed from the garden facing the harbor the low clouds of the morning accentuated the masts and the walkway to the docks which are a safe distance from the large tides that turn the beach area into a swamp.

From across the bay at Ajax Restaurant, the hotel can be clearly seen in its white paint and red trim at the apex of the harbor that is well protected from the wind and current coming in from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Today, the hotel is accessible by the road only, no public port accesses is available.

But what a gem! Facing the water on the rear and surrounded by forest at the entrance, the owners have created a beautiful garden where they not only grow flowers for the soul but food for the Italian restaurant on the ground floor. From farm to table is measured in steps here and a pleasant walk around the grounds is accentuated by identifying, or in my case mostly guessing, what vegetables are on the vine and in the ground that may end up in the night’s dinner.

Only about a dozen miles from downtown Port Townsend and its Victorian charm, Port Hadlock and the Old Alcohol Plant offered a chance to be near the action of the Wooden Boat Festival and secluded at the same time, and it was the festival, not the brief glory of the Alcohol Plant that brought us here. More on that next week.