Point Hudson History

Point Hudson History. Rotary Centennial Path. , It is believed that for thousands of years Point Hudson was used as a seasonal home by the Native American tribes, particularly Klallam and Chemakum. Presence of a freshwater lagoon, a wide variety of shellfish and other seafood easily obtained at low tide as well as an abundance of various waterfowl made this area an ideal hunting and foraging ground., The British explorer and surveyor Captain George Vancouver arrived at Point Hudson with a landing party on May 7, 1792., In 1841, an American explorer Captain Charles Wilkes named the point of honor of Commander William L. Hudson. Wilkes wrote: "...This is a beautiful Bay and has a long level beach with a Pond of Freshwater backing it and a run into the Bay where vessels may be supplied. The Point, a low sandy one [is] called Hudson's Point...", When the first permanent non-native settlers arrived in 1851 there were approximately 500 Klallam people living in the area, most likely somewhere near Kah Tai lagoon; which is a short walking distance from Point Hudson., In 1859, early historian James G. Swan witnessed Klallam chief Chetzemoka holding tribal ceremonies involving hundreds of people in a large lodge in Port Townsend, the exact location of which is a mystery today., Native lifestyle, intricately dependent on the rhythms of nature, was severely impacted by the developments that soon followed the white man's arrival: the construction of saloons and bordellos on the Point, a Masonic Lodge and a shipyard in 1859, St. Anthony's Catholic Church in 1862, and a sawmill in 1881. By 1890, maritime trades were firmly established and the native presence had dwindled to just a few tents and canoes., Most of the historic buildings remaining in Port Townsend['s Point Hudson] today date from the 1930s when the U.S. Health Administration created the Government Quarantine Station. The small lagoon was dredged in 1934.