A HISTORY OF KALA POINT, PORT TOWNSEND,

BY

BARBARA MACLEAN

2012

Prologue (by Michael Machette) At the height of the last glacial epoch, some 18,000 years ago, 3,000 to 4,000 feet of glacial ice covered the northern Quimper Peninsula where Port Townsend and Port Hadlock would eventually be built. Kala Point, the namesake of our home owner’s community, would have to wait another 12,000 years before it was formed by a melting ice, rising sea level, and coastal processes. The glaciers that occupied and the Straits of San Juan de Fuca came from the north, not the east. They were Canadian imports, before there were Canadians. The glaciers were fed by the massive snowfall in the high coastal mountains of British Columbia, such as around Whistler, feeding constant and unending streams of ice into the Queen Charlotte Straits and south into Puget Sound. This, Kuhn’s Spit (as known as Kala Point). From the most recent of many glaciations in the past 2 Google Earth, April 2012. million years, is named the Vashion advance for exposures of glacial deposits on Vashion Island, just The intersection of two currents formed a sandy north of Tacoma. spit at Kala Point, which is one of the finest beaches By about 13,000 years ago, the glaciers had in the region. stopped advancing, broken up, and receded back As you’ll read later, many artifacts of early man into their Canadian headwaters. Meltwater from the have been found in the Kala Point spit, evidence stranded glaciers flowed north toward Discovery that this has been a great place to live for the past Bay and cut valleys into the glacial deposits. At the thousands of years. same time, the land rose about 300 feet in a process called glacial rebound. Thus, most of the land on In the beginning which the Kala Point development is built emerged Kala Point, a residential community halfway from beneath ice and was uplifted above sea level. between Port Townsend and Port Hadlock, spreads At the same time, glaciers around the world were across bluffs overlooking Port Townsend Bay. melting, raising sea level almost 200 feet around the Entry is at an unmanned, octagonal windowed globe. The complex interplay between glacial gatehouse with a peaked shake roof. Beyond retreat, rebound, and stream erosion shaped the stretches Kala Point Drive, a mile-and- a-half long modern landscape of the entire Puget Sound. curved road, shaded by hemlocks, cedars, Douglas As the climate warmed around the Earth, early firs, madrones and alders.The edges of the road, man moved into the area, occupying the rich coasts which ends at the northern border of the where game, fish and berries became abundant. community, disappear into clumps of salal and other Kala Point was probably a prime spot for a nomadic natural ground cover. lifestyle (as it still is). Foxfield Drive is the first road to the left just Marine waters flooded into Port Townsend Bay past the gate and initial development began here in as sea level rose and stabilized about 6,000 years the early 1970s. Houses along Foxfield, as in other ago. From this time on, our coastal bluffs came neighborhoods of Kala Point, somehow avoid look- under assault from wind-driven waves and near- ing directly at one another. Homes on the left side shore currents. Sand and gravel from the adjacent of Foxfield sit at various elevations while the curves bluffs of Kala Point were carried both north and of the street move houses on the right to views south by marine currents according to Shannon & beyond their neighbors. Other homes hide along Wilson’s recent report of the bluffs.

three short cul de sacs. Foxfield completes a runs alongside can provide seasonal views of leisurely loop and ends further along on Kala Point migrating geese. Drive. Back at the parking lot, the road heads up again just past the dock and boat launch ramp. The beach area to the left of the dock provides storage racks for the small boats, canoes, and kayaks owned by residents. Here you may see blue herons and other birds, maybe a family of otters. It is also the site of an intriguing shipwreck. In “A History of the , Port Townsend, Kala Point,” former resident Virginia Olsen tells this story: In 1867, the bark, Southern Chief, arrived in Port Ludlow to pick up a cargo of lumber. The captain and crew disagreed over wages and the crew hired a Port Townsend lawyer, L.W. Tripp, who settled for the men on the captain’s terms. After the crew threatened to kill Tripp he Kala Point entry gates (photo by Michael Machette, armed himself with a double-barreled shotgun. 2012). When they met again, Tripp shot dead two of the sailors and clubbed to death a third. Tripp was The first road to the right past the gatehouse is arrested but claimed self-defense before leaving the Sailview Drive. On the right, Sailview passes country to avoid lynching. homes that are in one of the final areas of development – the Terrace. Further down the hill, As Port Townsend grew mostly hidden by trees, are 38 timeshare units, among the first buildings at Kala Point. Below the In December 1894, the Southern Chief was en blocks of multi-storied balconied buildings is the route from Tacoma to Australia with 970,000 feet Kala Point Clubhouse, for community of lumber on board. She got as far as Cape Flattery activities – everything from Monday bridge games when a gale came up and she began taking on to exercise classes and Friday night social water. Pumps could not handle the leak and 30,000 gatherings. Below the clubhouse is one of three feet of the deck load were jettisoned. Two hours groups of tennis courts. A path through the woods later the stern quarters were carried away; the seams to the beach begins at the parking lot of the courts. opened, decks buckled, capsizing the donkey engine The beach is a favorite destination especially for and boiler. Heavy seas swept the decks, setting the Kala Point dog owners – and there are many. Else- steering gear adrift and leaving the vessel helpless. where dogs must be leashed, but the beach provides The crew, fortunately, was rescued and after freedom for pets and people. Giant logs, who knows landing at Port Townsend sent tugs to bring in the their history, border the sands and the meadow ship. The Port Townsend Leader of December 27, growth of grasses and wild roses. Speculation about 1894, described her as “one of the sorriest objects these timbers is endless, lost from log booms, ever seen in the waters of Puget Sound … “ washed in during storms, or left behind when old- James McCurdy wrote “the ancient craft had growth trees were logged decades earlier. The 1.5 reached the end of her hectic career and was subse- mile stretch of beach curves at a point with a cluster quently beached and burned on Kuhn’s spit, where of trees and grasses. A resident bald eagle, and a portion of the hull can still be seen at low tide.” sometimes his mate, often perches on the wind- It seems miraculous that the wreck remains after distorted top branches of the point’s tallest tree. A all these years, after all the winter storms, the cur- wetland borders the shore side of the point and rents and tides. water moves into and out of a protected lagoon filled with logs and debris. Walking the trail that

Weather and history North of Windship Drive a second area borders the bluffs: Kala Heights Drive. Like Windship, water-view homes line both sides of the access road that follows the curve of the bluff. Behind is Cedar- view with a slightly higher elevation and views of the bay above the roof tops below. At the end of Kala Heights Drive, a walking lane leads into Old Fort Townsend State Park, a wonderful, untouched, and protected forest area laced with trails. The park forms the eastern border of Kala Point and runs from Kala Heights Drive to the administration office and RV lot at the end of Kala Point Drive, the northern boundary of the

community. Sunken ship “The Southern Chief” at low tide on Along Kala Point Drive, lie small cul de sacs Kala Point Beach (sketch by Barbara MacLean). and entries to curved streets such as Kala Heights Drive and Cedarview and on the upper side, Heading back up from the beach on Sailview Baycliff which provides access to Belvedere; plus Drive, on the right, four buildings of dark brown Pinecrest Drive, Fairbreeze and Oak Shore Drive. wood stretch across the slope. These condominiums In addition to the natural beauty of the area, the were among the first dwellings built at Kala Point. climate provides another plus. Average high Continuing up the hill, across from the timeshares temperatures at Port Townsend are 57.8 F and lows are the Bluffs, two-unit balconied townhouses with are 44.8 F. According to A Kids’-Eye View of Port windows facing the bay, also built along the curve Townsend and Jefferson County . . . by the students of the slope and surrounded by extensive lawns and of the Port Townsend Loft School, the average landscaping. precipitation is 18.46 inches. Bud Babcock, long- Back again at the corner of Kala Point Drive and time Kala Point resident and weather buff says the continuing north, Windship Drive is on the right. This is another of the early areas developed. Here the road bor- 22-year average precipitation at Kala Point has been ders a view of all of Port Townsend Bay. Below the road 22.65 inches. stretches a line of houses. On the hillside above them, home owners look across the roofs for an unobstructed view of the water. On the north end of the road is the first house to be built at Kala Point. The home, in English Tudor style, was built in 1973 for Renate Wheeler, founder of Kala Point, and has been the residence of the David Gooding family since 1976. The loop just past the house and up the hill connects Windship with Trafalgar Drive, another curving road with homes enjoying a higher-on-the-slope vista of the bay. Houses are also tucked among trees on two cul de sacs off Trafalgar. As one moves through the diverse residential neighborhoods one becomes aware of a symmetry

and beauty that can be compared to the creative and connected composition of a huge wall mural – or a Olympic Mountains rainshadow (the Blue Hole), symphony. from KOMONEWS.com, April 9, 2012.

This is significantly less than in other areas talk about what was discovered, in Costello’s because of the “rain shadow“, a climatologic account, Joe Kuhn, a Port Townsend resident, phenomenon created by prevailing winds and the tricked Chetzemoka, the Chimacum tribe leader, Olympic Mountains (City of Dreams by Peter into confessing that he had persuaded the Skagit Simpson). This rain shadow is effectively marketed tribe to go to war with him. While the Chimacums by the real estate companies, calling it the “Blue were camped in the beach area, the Skagits arrived Hole.” The Blue Hole provides Sequim and Port by boat.When Chetzemoka and his followers burst Townsend with a lower annual rainfall than the rest out of the woods, warfare erupted and “soon there of Puget Sound. Winter storms generally approach was not a Chimacum left.” the Washington coast from a southwesterly direction. As the storm air moves upward into the mountains, it cools and condenses into rain and snow. Areas in the west end of the Olympic Peninsula receive between 90 and 200 inches of rain per year. By the time those clouds reach the northeasterly communities of Port Townsend and Sequim, the clouds have become a sponge wrung dry … nearby Port Angeles attracts 25 inches and Quilcene is double that at 51 inches … the Olympic rain shadow keeps local residents drier than any Pacific coastal inhabitants north of Los Angeles . . .” At the time of this writing, in 2012, Kala Point (about 370 acres) had 371 single-family homes, and 72 unbuilt lots. There are 51 Bluff condos, 37 Harborview condos, and 10 Kala Heights condos. In addition there are 456 timeshare members of 38 units, 12 members per unit. Native Americans – the Chimacum Indians – are the earliest known occupants of Kala Point. According to accounts in Simpson’s City of Dreams, the Chimacums were a particularly warlike, aggressive, unclean, and disagreeable lot, reported to have suffered near or total extinction at Bronze statute of Chetzemoka at Port Townsend the hands of their enemies. There are reports of at- Golf Course (photo by Michael Machette). tacks on them as early as 1790, and a second massa- cre somewhere in the first half of the 19th century. And in A History of Olympic Peninsula, Port Census records show their population decreased Townsend, Kala Point, Virginia Olsen writes that in from 400 in 1870 to three in 1910. 1989, Harriet Beale from Western Washington University in Bellingham included the Kala Point beach in her geologic study of the lagoon salt Looking back marsh. What she found included evidence that the In 1869 Port Townsend residents found vast nearby Chimacum Indian villagers used the quantities of human bones on the beach near Kuhn southern point as a kitchen midden (dung heap or Spit, not far from the beach at Kala Point, according hill), depositing enough shells to create a protective to a seldom-cited 1895 work by J.C. Costello. berm. This berm altered previous tidal circulation. Though Native Americans of the area refused to The ridge at the southern tip of the Kala Point beach is composed mostly of these shells.

The Kala Point promontory on the western In Port Townsend Memories, J. Hermanson shores of Port Townsend Bay, formed by sediment reports that Kuhn also began construction of a four- from our bluffs, first became known to Port Town- story hotel (across from what was Swain’s in Port send residents as the site of Joe Kuhn’s periodic Townsend) but had to abandon it after the shell had clambakes in the late 1800s. been completed. Today, Hermanson writes, Kuhn is best remembered for the “elaborate clambake, which was held each summer for over thirty years. These usually at a spot known as “Kuhn’s Spit,” though now referred to as Kala Point.” It is likely that Kuhn’s Spit so impressed Renate Wheeler with its natural beauty that she under-took the development of the land that lay above it.

The beginnings of Kala Point Quite coincidentally, Renate Wheeler’s first view of the area she would develop was from the beach where a century earlier Joe Kuhn chose as the destination for his summer parties. Renate and her husband, Ed Croom, lived in Photograph of Kuhn’s Clambake. Cauldon is about Southern California at that time. An employee of 4 feet in diameter. (Courtesy of the Jefferson Croom’s who had lived in Washington state County Historical Museum). maintained strong ties to the Olympic Peninsula. The sociable Joe Kuhn’s connections to Port After making hunting and fishing trips to the area, Townsend began with his 1866 arrival in the town. Renate’s husband wanted to move there but knew, Most recently he had spent six years of freighting recalled Renate, “it would take a lot to get me up covered wagons across the plains of the Midwest here. I loved California.” (from City of Dreams by the late Peter Simpson). One year, as a birthday present, he made Kuhn had come to Port Townsend to visit his reservations for them at the Port Ludlow resort. On brother Louis, a local physician. Sensing an earlier trip, he had been told of the 400-plus opportunity, Joe stayed, supporting himself as a acres that now make up Kala Point. So it happened photographer while he studied law. that in 1970, the couple landed their rented boat on After Joe Kuhn’s admission to the bar in 1870, the beach below Kala Point. his ambition and entrepreneurial spirit led to a series “It was a gorgeous day,” Renate remembered. of careers and businesses. Besides serving as “We walked the beach. At some point, he asked me mayor, he also served as a state legislator, probate if I liked it? ‘What’s not to like?’ I replied.” judge, and commissioner of immigration as well as The property was available he told her. At the school board and city council member. time, Renate worked in real estate, a field she had In addition, Kuhn was an active participant in been in about two or three years before her the star-crossed Port Townsend Southern Railroad introduction to Kala Point. and involved in most of the city’s economic Reluctantly, on her husband’s urging, she developments of the late 1800s. But over the years, contacted her brother-in-law, Paul Dencker, a whatever his business or civic responsibilities, venture capitalist, and a third individual — Jurgen Kuhn never forgot his duties as social director. Manchot, heir to a chemical company in Germany Every summer he would load locals aboard a boat — who became the principal investor. and head to Kuhn Spit near Chimacum Creek. “I thought I could do it from afar and we There, the group would eat clams, drink whiskey, bought it,” Renate said. Her plan was to continue make music, and debauch until dawn. living in California.

The purchase was made without conditions and Renate called the soil “pure luck.” Port Ludlow without a great deal of knowledge of the land. The came with clay. In Kala Point sandy earth required investors bought the spit separately from a different no community-wide sewer system, a costly seller. The original plan was to dredge for a harbor, undertaking which she said, would have required allowable at that time, and build a restaurant on the smaller lots and would have negated the rural feel. spit. As it worked out, the partnership wanted The decision was made for a gated community private roads and could not have these with an with private roads: development began in 1973. open-to-the-public restaurant. A decision was Kala Point became the area’s first community reached: the private roads would go ahead and the required to file an Environmental Impact Statement land would remain natural. (EIS) with the county, something that had not been That all happened in 1972. Since the other required of Port Ludlow. partners were out of the country, Renate moved to Another hurdle, Renate recalled, came with the Kala Point from California. She became involved Chimacum Indian tribe. The EIS, as directed, had immediately. Road construction began along with been sent to all agencies including Indian Affairs. all the amenities. Chimacum Indian history involved the Kala Point Recalled Renate, “we were not just selling blue area, reputed site of a famous massacre. The sky.” A vivid memory of those early days Chimacums wanted access to the beach, did not accompanied her self-introduction at what would want a gate. become her bank in Port Townsend. The partnership arranged for several digs to “Oh yes,” she was told. “That’s the place where recover any artifacts. These were returned to the they never found water.” tribe. Pottery was uncovered when the road to the After not sleeping a week after hearing that beach was put in, plus arrowheads on the beach. news, Renate contacted a water witch – a Mr. May- Whenever there was construction on a site with a berry from Quilcene. He told her, “Don’t worry. tribal history, Kala Point financed the dig that pre- There’s water.” ceded it. Earlier she had hired a top engineering firm in Ed Croom, Renate Croom, and Paul Dencker who had done well for her up until this incorporated the development as the Kala Point point. But they had also determined the Swim and Racquet Club on October 2, 1975. At development should not go ahead because of the first they concentrated on selling lots along Winship absence of water on the site. After Renate told the Drive, the first residental street to be paved in Kala Seattle engineers that Mayberry had said there was Point. water, they invited her to visit their Seattle offices. Mayberry came along in his rubber coveralls. The two of them walked into the firm’s elegant suites where engineers stood over a table of maps – maps showing no wells in Jefferson County. Mayberry recited the locations of fifteen wells he had personally dug. “In Jefferson County,” he told his audience, “we never record wells.”

The first steps

To settle the water issue, Renate accompanied Mayberry, the Quilcene water witcher, into the woods to check. It was not an easy trip. There were no roads in the property then, not even Prospect Avenue. The closest main road was State Highway The Gooding residence in 2012 (photo by Michael 19. But the expedition paid off: Mayberry found Machette). water.

In 1973, Renate moved into the first house built The first condominium buildings were on her property – the distinctive peaked- roof Eng- completed in 1977. First owners in the first lish-Tudor at the end of Windship Drive. She lived building of seven units were Renate, Dencker, and there for two to three years before selling to David Jurgen Manchot. Gooding ,who still lives there with his family. In November 1977, the owners hired Bill The new community was initially advertised on Lindeman to replace Ed Croom as President of Kala radio. Disc jockeys flew in on seaplanes from Lake Point Company, as a general partner of Kala Point Union, landing at the Kala Point dock to talk about Development Co., and as President of Kala Point the beauty that greeted them. Later, advertising Utility Co. Bill has remained acive in the Kala appeared in newspapers in Seattle and Port Point Coumminity followin his retirement in 2003. Townsend. The Club House was built in 1978 and a block Originally, Kala Point was promoted as a of property was purchased by McPherson to community of weekend homes, but Renate recalled, develop the Time-Share units, which was becoming many purchasers made it clear they were seeking a popular and affordable real estate option. permanent residences. Eighty percent of the buyers As first condominiums were completed, the came from California, and thus were familiar with developer recognized that there was a strong mar- gated communities, just appearing in the Northwest. ket for part-time and permanent homes at Kala Others believed that waterfront lots at $30,000 Point. From this point on, development of Kala would prove a good investment. Developers Point proceeded in stages with Windship and provided financing and sold about a hundred lots a Foxfield the first two divisions and Kala Heights year. Initially a high-end real estate firm out of being division nine, in 2000. Seattle, McPherson, which specialized in recrea- Some of the development involved water views, tional properties, was put in charge of sales. some woodland. All the roads and amenities were A special promoter for Kala Point turned out to put in by the developers. Ownership of the roads be , a pro player with the was required since the developers had chosen to Seattle Supersonics. In time he became a personal make Kala Point a gated community. The Lagoon friend of Renate and her family as well as a top- and Terrace (divisions 10 and 11) were completed scoring sports star. Though initially an unknown, he in 2008. At that point, the Kala Point Development became NBA champion in 1979, making his Company’s mission was complete. endorsement of Kala Point valuable. A condomin- ium was part of his compensation. To many at that Kala Point time, Kala Point became known as Jack’s Point. ventually the original owners of Kala Point reached a parting of the ways. The property was divided with Renate Wheeler’s brother-in-law (Paul Dencker) receiving the undeveloped division, the unsold, and undeveloped Bluffs and Terrace, whereas Renate and Jurgen Manchot received all the unsold lots and the undeveloped Lagoon prop- erty. In 1987, Renate opened a real estate office on six acres she bought at the Kala Square corner of Prospect Avenue and the highway. She had the acreage rezoned from residential to commercial and opened Kala Square Realty. A few years later, this

became the 60th Windermere office and the first on One of the Harborview condominium buildings, the Olympic Peninsula. Soon afterward she and her 2012 (photo by Michael Machette). late husband, Joe Wheeler (he died in 2010) bought a restaurant across from the ferry dock in Port

Townsend and established a Windermere office And after 40 years? there. In 2003 they sold the business; in 2005 they “I am pleased at how well Kala Point has been sold the building. maintained,” Renate admitted, “and how the Of the success of Kala Point, Renate called it a community is embraced by those that chose to buy “a matter of timing. If we had waited, with the new here.” environmental controls, we would have had to have A final question: The name of the community, five-acre lots and would not have been able to get where did that come from? rezoning from residential to commercial at the Kala She said, “I was told ‘kala’ was the Indian name Square corner.” for goose and the Point was always called Kala, so Her involvement now? Renate has served on the we never changed it.” Kala Point Homeowners Association Board which administers the community. In addition, she is a member of the Architectural Committee. Renate was born in Germany. Her father, Franz Suess, was Jewish; her mother, Elly, was Catholic. In 1933, after becoming aware of what was happening to Jews in Germany, Suess moved his wife, Renate, and her older sister, Liz, from Cologne to England. They made their home in London. When World War II began, the children were evacuated from London. Renate and Liz were sent to boarding school in Surrey and remained there through high school. In Germany, her father had owned a winery and vineyard. In London he started his own business as a broker for non-ferrous metals, eventually opening offices in Stockholm, New York City, and London. He enticed Renate to join him in business when she completed high school. After a couple of years of working in London, she chose to work in the New York office but with the understanding that she would first attend college. She enrolled in the journalism department at Columbia University, attending school part time and working part time. She lived in International House in New York City where she met her husband, an Annapolis graduate, doing post-graduate studies at Columbia. The couple remained in New York for two The Rose Theater, a popular attraction in Port years. The following year the family, which now in- Townsend (sketch by Barbara MacLean). cluded two young children, moved on to two-year postings in Virginia, Pennsylvania, the Philippines About the authors and California. In the latter, they ended up at Westlake Village, a new and upscale develop-ment Barbara MacLean is a retired artist, journalist, north of Los Angeles. and the author of three books ther last being Strike “My concept of Kala Point,” Renate said, “was a Woman, Strike a Rock: Fighting for Freedom in based on my knowledge of Westlake Village. It was South Africa.. Barbara and her late husband, Fraser, a planned community, much larger than this. It also came to Kala Point in July 1999. She is a longtime had standards, covenants.” member of the Publications Committee.

Michael Machette is a retired research geologist City of Dreams—A guide to Port Townsend, edited who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in by Peter Simpson, Bay Press, 1986. Denver, Colorado. He and his wife Nancy built Geologic map of the Port Townsend South and part their retirement home in Kala Point in 2010; he is of the Port Townsend North 7.5-minute currently the Chief Financial Officer for the Kala quadrangles, Jefferson County, Washington, by Point Home Owners Association. H. W. Schasse and S. L. Slaughter. 2005, Washington State Department of Natural References Resources Geologic Map 57, 1:24,000 scale. Kala Point Coastal Bluff Study, KPOA, Port A Brief Historical Sketch of Port Townsend by Townsend, Washington, by Shannon & Wilson William D. Welsh, Port Townsend Chamber of Inc. and Coastal Geologic Services, Contract Commerce, 1961. Report, March 2, 2012. A History of Olympic Peninsula, Port Townsend, Kala Point, Virginia Olsen, pub, year