Lemolo Beach History

The first "families" of Lemolo were the Indian families. The beach at Lemolo Point was a campground for the Indians. They dug clams all along the beaches. Then the clams were sacked up and taken into Seattle to be sold at the Farmer's Public Market. The name Le-Mo-Lo means "wild and untamed."

1792

When Captain George Vancouver first explored Puget Sound in the year 1792, Chief Seattle was then the young Indian boy, Sealth. His father, Schweabe, was one of the Chiefs of the tribe. Chief Kitsap was a War Chief.

As the large sailing vessel approached the Indian encampment on the beach at Agate Pass, most of the tribe fled in terror to hide in the woods. At first glance, some had thought Hat Island had broken loose and was floating towards them.

The chiefs of the tribe stayed on the beach to await this unknown thing that approached them. Chief Kitsap and several others were taken on board the ship and sailed around the Sound, showing the strange pale people the rest of the area.

When Vancouver departed, he left several canoe loads of blankets, tools, trinkets and some different foods. He had made a favorable impression on the tribe, its chiefs and Sealth. In later years, the young chief never forgot his first friendly meeting with white men. It was through his efforts that the tribes of the area were persuaded not to go to war against the whites. For this and his other efforts of good for both the Indians and the whites the city of Seattle bears his name. He died in 1866 and is buried in the cemetery of the Catholic Church in Suquamish.

1853

Washington Territory was formed in 1853. There were 3,965 white people in the territory at that time. Seattle's population was 170. That same year marked the beginning of the timber boom on the Kitsap Peninsula. The Peninsula was humming with sawmills. Pope and Talbot was building a mill in Port Gamble around 1863, and Port Blakely was also a leading mill town.

During the period of big time logging, the timber companies held sway in the running of this area. In 1857, it was through the influence of the mill companies' representatives in the Territorial Legislature that a new county was formed for their convenience. The county seat was located in the mill town of Port Madison. They requested the county be named Madison. Other interests wanted to name it Slaughter. Finally, on July 13, 1857, it was named Kitsap after Chief Kitsap the Great. The first land to be homesteaded in Kitsap County was around Poulsbo and Port Orchard Bay.

1883

The first pioneers came to Poulsbo in 1883. This was following the logging camp operations that stripped the land of its timber in the early 1860's. The first permanent settler was Jorgen Eliason followed shortly by Andrew B. Moe and their families. In 1886 I.B. Moe petitioned the government for a post office for the growing town. He gave the name Paulsbo (Paul's Place) after a village he had lived near in Norway. The postal authorities misspelled the name and it became Poulsbo instead.

Early Lemolo looked very different in these very early times. The forest was thick and grew right down to the beach. Stumps were three feet across. Eventually the early logging companies logged the land. The earliest homesteaders came to the Lemolo area in the late 1880's. The two earliest families were the Johnson's and the Bauer's. They found that much of the land had been logged off, but individual logging was still being done. There were no range laws and few fences. Indian ponies ran loose on Lemolo Point. Early settlers described how in the fall, thousands of wild ducks would settle on the bay. They were so dense that one shot from a shotgun would kill twelve at once. When the flock flew off the flapping of many wings made a roaring sound.

"There were no roads, you know." This is the phrase you would hear if you could talk with the early settlers. Today roads guide us everywhere and such a phrase passes over our heads. We have to pause for a moment and remember being deep in the woods with a bucket, looking for blackberries. Vines, bushes, stickers, nettles, trees and bottomless windfalls are part of the battle. If we were faced with this dilemma daily wherever we wanted to go, the obvious would happen. We, too, would take to the water as the easiest means of travel. This was what the early pioneers did, as the native Indians had done before them.

The huge body of water made up of Puget Sound, Straits of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet, runs for thousands of miles, around islands, along peninsulas and into many deep water harbors. It is more vast than the casual observer sees. For this reason, and because of its isolation from the mighty Pacific, it has earned the name the "Inland Sea."

For over seventy years, steamers were the main transportation in this sea. There is a chapter in Pacific Northwest history that equals that of the steamboats on the mighty Mississippi.

1907

Liberty Bay was connected to the outside world through the "Mosquito Fleet". This term refers to inland ships whether large or small. In the 1800's and the early part of the twentieth century, the communities around Liberty Bay had their list of steamboat names, too. The first steamer to churn the waters of Dogfish Bay (later named Liberty Bay) was the little "Augusta". She called three times a week. In 1907 the little Lemolo community built its own dock. Now Lemolo had a regular port of call for the steamers. Farm produce could be taken to Seattle to sell at the Farmer's Public Market. That same year Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Jacobson built the Lemolo Store. Before that time, people living in Lemolo often rowed across the bay to buy their supplies at the Pearson store. The Lemolo Store is still at it's original location today. However, in the Mosquito Fleet days, there also was a warehouse at the foot of the Lemolo dock to store bulk items for the farmers, i.e. hay and seed.

1914

As the Lemolo community grew, new needs arose. In 1914, Sunday School and church services were first held in a large framed tent on Brauer's land across from the site of the former Lemolo Greenhouse. Five years later a church was built on land further north. And in 1915 Godfrey Norman spearheaded a drive to build a community clubhouse. This clubhouse is located south of the Lemolo Market. School classes were held in its balcony, and later, about 1920, the schoolhouse was built. Before the clubhouse, Lemolo children walked to Poulsbo to attend classes. The community club organized by Mr. Norman named many of Lemolo's roads after early pioneer families.

In June of 1951, the Poulsbo area was dramatically connected to Seattle when the State of Washington bought privately run Puget Sound Navigation from Black Ball which was owned by Alexander Peabody. Mr. Peabody had bought out the many privately run fleets that crisscrossed the waters of Puget Sound since the early 1900's. The Washington State Ferry System first began servicing Bainbridge Island (at Winslow) with the Illahee ferry in 1954, four years after the Agate Pass Bridge was built. It was a steel diesel-electric ferry from San Francisco. The Klahowya and Tillikum came along in '58 and '59 paid for out of the Hood Canal Bridge Bond indebtedness. These first ferries, the Illahee, Tillicum and Klahowya, served Bainbridge Island until 1967. Then the larger ferries, Kalletan, Elwa, Hyak and Yakima took over until 1972 when the "super ferries" emerged: Spokane and Walla Walla. By 1997 even newer super ferries emerged: the Tacoma and Wenatchee. The Seattle - Bainbridge run currently has the highest volume in the system.

For more ferry history, check out Ferries of Puget Sound and the Washington State Ferries History page.

1952

Our grandfather, Sherman "Sherm" W. Bushnell, Sr., was a passionate boater who cruised the waters of Puget Sound, San Juan Islands and Canada. One of his favorite short cruises was from Seattle through Agate Pass to Liberty Bay and on to the docks at Poulsbo. A landmark along this route was a large rather unattractive cement bagged pier that jutted into the narrowest part of Liberty Bay. The abandoned pier had been built by the Army during WWII as an artillery emplacement for the protection of the Keyport Naval Torpedo Base. It also sheltered one of the finest beaches in Puget Sound, Lemolo Point.

Here's how our father, Sherman W."Bud" Bushnell, Jr. (aka "Chief" of the Bushnell Tribe) describes how Lemolo was acquired by our Grandad:

"Grandad was cruising by in the summer of 1952 in his classic old boat "Lurline" when he saw a for sale sign on the point. All the sign had on it was a telephone number which proved to be the home of F. Will Johnson (1), living in Ballard (Seattle). Johnson was a cranky old ex commercial fisherman, and was not easy to get along with. He had turned down several other calls on the property, either because he just didn't like the people or they tried to negotiate a better price or something. Grandad was a great salesman and understood the basics of how to get along with people. He always said the first thing you do is make a friend out of them, and this he proceeded to do with Johnson. After several trips out to Ballard he and Johnson were having coffee together, reminiscing about old times, and talking about almost everything except the beach property. When they finally got around to the selling of the property it was just a matter of working out the details. Grandad paid the asking price of $9,000 for all 440 feet of one of the prime waterfront properties in the region."

"Grandad saw Lemolo Beach as a wonderful vacation beach in the center of his boating world. He also saw it as a place where his family could be together, then and for the generations that would follow. He had the property surveyed right away, and divided it into four lots, one north of the existing cabin (built by Johnson), and two south of it. At that time Jerrie (Chief's younger sister) was still pretty young and Grandad let Jane, Nancy and I pick which of the three available lots we would like to have. I let Jane and Nancy pick first. Jane took the north lot and Nancy the one south of the cabin, leaving the far south lot for Mom and I. At that time this is where the large pier jutted out at the very point. It was made of cement bags for a perimeter wall and dirt fill inside, and it was not a particularly good looking thing on the beach. I think this may have had something to do with the fact Jane and Nancy didn't want that lot. Nancy in particular was concerned about her younger children falling off the pier."

"About that time there was a shakeup in Refrigeration Engineering Company (Grandad's company), and Loring (Johnson) left to form a refrigeration business of his own in Wenatchee. He and Jane were living over there and I think this accounted for the fact they never developed their lot at the beach. Nancy and Jen (Hanseth) built a cabin on their lot right away and used it for a couple of years. However, Jen's heart was in summer sport fishing, especially for salmon, and that was not Liberty Bay. They found property on Whidbey that was close to all the good fishing spots and lost interest in the beach. Jerrie and Howie (Carlson) took over their cabin."

"As soon as Mom and I got our lot on the point we were so excited we couldn't stand it. The Army had built a tent platform and an outhouse in the woods back of the pier for the soldiers that manned the gun. The tent was long gone when Grandad purchased the property, but the platform and the outhouse were still there. We had a new canvas tent made to fit the platform, and we moved in that first summer of 1953 as soon as school was out. We bought six old Army surplus bunks and found an old kitchen sink that we hooked up to the well with a garden hose. Using the outhouse was a real learning experience for us all. This was the way we spent our summer for the next four years. It was one of the best times of our lives and it left us with memories that would last a lifetime."

1954

"One of the most memorable years at the beach was the summer and winter of 1954-55. We had sold our home in View Ridge and were building a new house in Aviation Heights (Seattle). We needed a place to stay, and obviously the tent was no place to spend the winter. Grandad offered us their cabin and we were quick to accept. We moved in before school in the fall of 1954. The children were registered in the Poulsbo school and we quickly became "locals". The only heat in the cabin was the fireplace. Son Ward and I spent the winter hauling logs off nearby beaches and cutting them up for burning in the fireplace. I quickly learned what it means to be a regular commuter on the ferry system, getting up before 6:00 a.m. and home long after dark. The first Lemolo parade was held that year on Washington's birthday, and Mom had all you kids dressed up accordingly. Weekends we would drive into town and check on the progress on our new house. It was a special winter in the life of our family and we all got along fine in that little cabin on the shores of Liberty Bay."

1958

"The summer of 1958 we had the addition of the twins in our family and the tent living was just a little too much. Jerrie and Howie let us have their cabin that summer and once again we were able to be at our wonderful beach. It was a hot summer and we kept the twins outside in their play pen most of the time, under the old apple tree in front of Grammie and Grandad's cabin. Knowing our family needed something more than the tent, we started to think about a better cabin for our lot on the point. One Sunday there was a picture in the Times of a mountain cabin designed and owned by the architect Paul Thiry. It was a striking A-frame design, with a high vaulted ceiling, a sleeping loft and beautiful view windows across the entire front. Mom and I immediately knew it would be perfect for the beach. The next day I went to the office of Paul Thiry in downtown Seattle to see him. He had been in the same fraternity as Grandad and I, Delta Upsilon, and I thought as a brother he would give me a good reception. It turned out just the contrary. He was too busy to see me and he would never consider letting us have the plans for his mountain cabin. Undaunted, I turned to my friend, Ben Woo, another very fine architect. I showed him the picture in the Times and asked if he could draw us some plans. He said, "sure", and two months later we had a full set of working drawings. In the fall of 1958 we let a contract, and in the late spring of 1959 we moved into the most beautiful A-frame beach cabin we had ever imagined. We had not included a deck out front for financial reasons, and a year later in the summer of 1960 we built that great deck and bench that served us so well for family gatherings down through the years."

"While the A-frame cabin was being built I installed a fiberglass roof on the old tent platform in back, added a deck out in front, and divided the area inside into two halves for sleeping boys on one side and girls on the other. Two additional Army surplus bunks were purchased so we could sleep four on each side. I wired it for inside lights and power, but thoughtfully located a master switch down in the A-frame so we could shut off the power at night.to encourage sleeping. That Fourth of July we had a magnificent celebration burning the old outhouse."

"By the early '60's the old cement bag pier was pretty well falling apart. The cement bags had cracked apart and the dirt was being sucked out of the interior by the water currents. The kids still loved to climb all over it but now we were concerned about the safety issues. One day I found a guy who needed some fill and when he offered to bring his equipment down to the beach, load up the pier, dirt, cement bags and all, and haul it away at no cost I jumped at the offer. After the pier was gone we realized that one of the advantages of having it there was protection from passing boats by forcing them to stay further off the beach. Still if we had tried to keep the pier it would have meant a lot of money for continual repair and maintenance, and with it gone we had a lot more usable and beautiful beach."

1960

In 1960 our grandparents, Sherman and Emily Bushnell, (Grandad and Grammie) decided to sell their Lemolo parcel. The reasons are obscure. Ernest (Bud) and Ruth Anderson bought their parcel for $18,800. Later the Anderson's divorced and Ruth Anderson received the Lemolo property.

1971

By 1971, Grandad and Grammie wanted to be back at the beach. It was determined that a manufactured home could fit onto Chief and Grandmommie's parcel, right on Lemolo Point, and it was permitted under a provision allowing an additional "temporary" house on your property to support a family member like grandparents. This gave them many wonderful years of staying in contact with their grandchildren and great grandchildren as their beach home became the favorite visiting spot just a few steps away. (The mobile home also had the only bathtub on the beach for bathing little sandy and sunburned bodies.)  After our grandparents passed away, the mobile home was rented from September to June to help support the beach expenses. The "immobile-mobile home" remained until 1999!

1986

Chief and Grandmommie eventually deeded the beach property to their six children and their spouses. (We called ourselves "Lemolo Point Associates.")  By 1986 they purchased for themselves a house on the bluffs above the marina in downtown Poulsbo. This house was beautifully remodeled to accommodate their lifestyle. It included a large deck over looking a panoramic view of Liberty Bay, a hot tub, a full working shop area for Chief, and wonderful garden areas. Today Grandmommie's roses, dahlias, and peonies from their garden are treasured gifts. This house also put Chief closer to the Poulsbo docks where he always had a boat moored for the summer. He could pop down to the boat to tinker and do repairs at any time. And Poulsbo was the perfect starting point for their many boating jaunts into the nooks and crannies of Puget Sound and beyond. Since the early '70's Chief and Grandmommie have been vagabonds of the sea. August 18th, 1974 was a special day at Lemolo when they returned triumphantly from their year long dream cruise which had started from Florida (through the Panama Canal) in their Northstar 40' ketch, "Sunpiper." They made several trips to Alaska reaching Glacier Bay. Both the "Genie", a Valiant 40', and their "Minx", a Sabreline 36' Trawler,  have served them well. At age 79, Chief can be spotted rowing his single scull from Poulsbo down Liberty Bay past the Beach and back again in the calm early morning waters while Grandmommie walks the several mile round trip to the Beach to greet him.

1989

In 1989 a permanent bunkhouse addition was added to the A-Frame cabin. The Bushnell tribe had expanded to twenty grandchildren, and the new bunkhouse added eight bunk beds (four on the girls side and four on the boys side)!

1996

In 1996 the Kelley property (on the south side of the point) became available. Bob and Peggy (Wilkerson), and Ward and Judy (Bushnell) decided to buy this parcel. This "Annex" added 210 more feet of shoreline to the "Beach". The Wilkerson's and Bushnell's remodeled the original house to include a large comfortable deck. From this deck it became more apparent that the old mobile home obstructed a180 degree view of Liberty/Ne-Si-Ka Bays.

Removal of the mobile home was desirable. The A-Frame even with the Bunkhouse addition continued to be small quarters when several families wanted to use the beach at once, particularly during the coveted summer months. The large cedar deck that Chief built in 1961 was reaching the end of its life. So in 1998 the Wilkerson's and Bushnell's made a proposal that would change the beach for along time to come.

1998

Bob, Peggy, Ward and Judy presented a plan that would provide for a substantial remodel of the now 40 year old A-Frame and deck, remove the mobile home, and build additional supplemental living quarters in its place that could blend with the overall design and materials of the Beach setting. The final plans were developed and refined with feedback from all Lemolo Point Associates. Actual construction began in the spring of 1999. This project along with the Bunkhouse addition, and the remodeled Annex were all ably managed and constructed by Stimac Construction, the quality "Poulsbo Connection" in our family. The beach is what it is today because of the hard work and ingenuity of Mike and Janny Stimac, brother-in-law and sister in the Bushnell tribe.

Today, July 3, 2000, we dedicate our beautiful renewed Beach place, the hearth stone of the Bushnell family, for hopefully generations to come. Ringing in our ears and resounding from our hearts are these peaceful words of Chief Sealth:

"Care for the land as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. Preserve it for your children and love it.as God loves us all."

* This history was compiled by Robbin Bushnell Sullivan with the help of Chief, the recollections of other family members, and the book, Tall Timber and The Tide by Joan Carson. Thank you to all contributors.

Footnotes:

(1) Will Johnson built what is today the Anderson's house. Before him Halseth had lived in a house built on pilings right on the beach in front of what is the Carlson's cabin today. Halseth and his friend, Harold Olsen, would fish and clam the bay. (Many of the early inhabitants of Liberty Bay were fisherman.)  Both Halseth and Johnson were related as were many of the area residents, according to Alice Baker who moved to Lemolo at age 8 mo. in 1912. This was about the time that many of the area residents arrived having been displaced from their homes in Keyport when the Navy selected Keyport as the ideal site to provide a station on the Pacific Coast for storage, modification, repair and testing of torpedoes in the 1910 to 1913 timeframe. The Norums, and Hagen's were two families who bought lots from A.M. Young who platted and sold "Lemolo Acres" around 1907. However, most of Lemolo Point doesn't appear to have been part of Mr. Young's Lemolo Acres. Donald R.Lewis  and Christian Andreasen are shown as owners of the small parcels on the south side of the point while the Johnson's owned the rest.