Richmond Beach State Park
Across the Olympic Bay from New Market, is a small peninsula containing the Richmond Beach State Park. It is a pretty remote location for a park, but it contains the oldest structure in the whole region:
Soon after the British exploration of Puget Sound under George Vancouver's expedition, the Hudson Bay Company petitioned the Crown to build a fort and dock to protect their claims in Puget Sound from natives, Spaniards and Russians. However, soon after it was built the whole territory came under joint British-American occupation, and the fort was abandoned. By the time the Washington territory was declared sole US land, the fort had become obsolete, and the land was given to the territorial, and then state government. One of the many recent New Deal projects was to restore the fort and dock, and turn the area into a state park. This is Fort Richmond, and next to is is a Botanical Garden.
A reconstruction of one of the typical sailing ships of the era when the fort was in use:
A couple shots of the boardwalk:
A park wouldn't be complete without some sports fields:
A beautiful day over Puget Sound:
That's Richmond Beach. Next up, we'll visit the towns along the Nisqually River.
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