DUNGENESS
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DUNGENESS |
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| NAME: Dungeness COUNTY: Clallam ROADS: 2WD GRID: 6 CLIMATE: Cool winter and summer. BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime. |
COMMENTS:
Semi-ghost REMAINS: Many original buildings. |
| The origin of the present site of Dungeness was an English harbor of the same name. However, the present town was preceded by New Dungeness, a site visited by an English sea captain in 1792 named George Vancouver. He named the location New Dungeness as it reminded him so much of the English harbor. New Dungeness began to grow as a settlement during the mid 1850s as homesteaders filed claims, established businesses and began to develop the land. Ocean going ships began to call at New Dungeness to take on provisions or lumber and sometimes sought refuge from storms in the protected harbor. In the early 1890s, the bay had become so shallow that ships coming into the harbor became stranded at low tide and the town began to fade. The townspeople picked up their belongings and moved eastward about a mile and a half in 1891. From that time forward New Dungeness was referred to as Old Dungeness or Old Town and the new settlement was simply Dungeness. The people of clamored for a railroad but it was not to be. In time, the merchants picked up their businesses and moved south to Sequim. As a shipping center, the town was doomed as rail and auto freight began to supplant maritime freight. Dungeness still retains much of its original atmosphere and is well worth a visit.Submitted by Henry Chenowith. |
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