San Juan Islands National Historic Park
This morning we landed at the site of the old British camp on San Juan Island. The old buildings and formal garden are all that is left of a former camp built on the island in the 1850's when the British and Americans both had military camps in the area. Perhaps one of the most colorful events in the history of the islands involved a dispute between the two camps in 1858. A British pig was shot by an American farmer who was trying to grow potatoes in his garden. Since both governments were trying to establish control over the area neither was willing to let the incident pass unnoticed and the two nearly went to war over the matter. Known as the Pig War the dispute was finally settled before any further shots were fired and eventually the Americans gained control of the islands.
The area is now part of the San Juan Islands National Historic Park and there are some excellent hiking trails leading to the high point of the island at Mount Young. We spent the morning visiting the area, hiking the trails enjoying fine views in near perfect weather. Later in the day we moved to the small town of Friday Harbor and enjoyed a visit to the Whale Museum before heading out into the surrounding waters and our next destination at Victoria, British Columbia.
This morning we landed at the site of the old British camp on San Juan Island. The old buildings and formal garden are all that is left of a former camp built on the island in the 1850's when the British and Americans both had military camps in the area. Perhaps one of the most colorful events in the history of the islands involved a dispute between the two camps in 1858. A British pig was shot by an American farmer who was trying to grow potatoes in his garden. Since both governments were trying to establish control over the area neither was willing to let the incident pass unnoticed and the two nearly went to war over the matter. Known as the Pig War the dispute was finally settled before any further shots were fired and eventually the Americans gained control of the islands.
The area is now part of the San Juan Islands National Historic Park and there are some excellent hiking trails leading to the high point of the island at Mount Young. We spent the morning visiting the area, hiking the trails enjoying fine views in near perfect weather. Later in the day we moved to the small town of Friday Harbor and enjoyed a visit to the Whale Museum before heading out into the surrounding waters and our next destination at Victoria, British Columbia.
