The First State Park
I have lived much of my life in and around Bellingham. The ruggedly carved Chuckanut Sandstone shores and steeply sloping forests of Larrabee State Park have been an inspiration and a refuge through the years.
My introduction to the park happened on a return home from an orchestra rehearsal at
Western Washington University with friends from high school. We sat on the rocks at the edge of Wildcat Cove and enjoyed the fleeting independence of the moment.
One of my favorite parts of the park is the long trail atop the spine of Chuckanut Ridge, with its drippy, mossy forest, unexpected cliff edges and….views....across empty forests to Mt Baker one direction, out over the Salish Sea to the San Juan Islands on the other side.
It is a cherished place that goes back to the beginning of the urge toward preservation in Washington.
The First Report of the State Parks Committee noted:
The big virgin timber of Washington has always been so familiar a sight to the people of the state that, until recently, few have realized the distinctive scenic value which it possesses, and especially the extent to which it gives character to our highways. With its rapid disappearance from those localities which are readily accessible, the feeling has steadily grown, and to considerable strength, that failure on the part of the state to save some portion of the best that remains of this accessible timber would be extremely short-sighted, and would result in irreparable losses to the people of the state and nation. Few of our scenic features possess such distinction as do these great forests, and to the rapidly increasing numbers of our tourist visitors, few of the exhibits of nature are so awesome and inspiring. At the present rate of cutting it will be only a matter of a few years when nearly all the timber along our highways, outside of the United States Government Forest Reserve, will be destroyed. If this condition is allowed to continue one of our greatest, if not the greatest, scenic resource will be permanently lost.
It is interesting that this initial call to preservation involved saving forests as scenery viewed from highways.
Ernest Lister was the first Democrat elected governor of Washington, in 1912, on a populist platform of aid to farmers with public irrigation and power development, and protections for industrial workers including the eight-hour work day. He was also a vocal supporter of the prohibition of alcohol. One of his projects was the promotion of a state park system. He began discussions with leading philanthropists in the state to donate lands to become parks.
One of them was Charles X. Larrabee, one of the richest people in the state. Born in New York (we share the same birthday!—well, mine is 118 years later), he augmented his inherited wealth by locating the Mountain View prospect in Butte, Montana and selling for an immense profit. He settled in Fairhaven, promoting it as a location for the terminus of the Great Northern Railway, but stayed even after that bid was lost to Seattle. By the early 20th century he was well established as a preeminent landowner in the northwestern corner of Washington.
As Governor Lister shepherded the construction of Chuckanut Drive as the final link in the Pacific Coast Highway, he saw the opportunity to enhance it with the inception of a state park system and encouraged Larrabee to donate 20 acres featuring spectacular shoreside access and space for an automobile campground. The 71 year old Larrabee died of a heart attack in his real estate office before he could make the transaction, but his wife Frances completed the deal a month after his death. Lister formally established Washington's first State Park on November 22, 1915.
Frances was a larger-than-life personality in her own right. Avenues for women to influence political change were limited in the early 20th century. A descendant of the influential Payne family, early participants in the colonization of Virginia, Frances was a talented pianist studying at the New Engalnd Conservatory when she met Charles. Moving with him to Washington, Frances forged a path of influence by founding and nurturing a variety of women’s clubs and cultural institutions, among them a home for homeless children, the local YWCA, Bellingham Women’s Musical Club, and the Twentieth Century Club. All of these associations manifested the charity, support of education and promotion of women’s equality she believed in. The establishment of a system of state parks fit well with the progressive ideals she labored for—allowing public enjoyment of places of aesthetic beauty and inspiration.
The Larrabee family made additional donations to increase the size of the park in the 1930s, and additional land transfers in the 1990s increased the park to its current size of 2,683 acres, the 11th largest Washington State Park.
Larrabee State Park is well known and loved by generations of Washingtonians and visitors, and yet it is still easy to find a sense of discovery and freshness within its borders. I thrill to the sight of a delicate calypso orchid alongside the Chuckanut Ridge Trail or the richness of life in the tidepools adjacent to the original 20 acre donation.
The passage of time has amplified the wisdom of Lister's foresight and the Larrabee’s generosity, as we have come to understand the true value of parks and protected areas in maintaining the healthy functioning of land and water. We are even beginning to understand the potential for healing that natural areas provide.
Read on to learn about work to use parks as a prescription for health.
-David
