As we prepare to leave San Juan Island Historical Park, I want to share with you the questions, old and new, that people asked most often.  I do this as we leave every park, and you can find previous questions from Death Valley, Chickamauga, Fort Frederica, and Grand Portage.  Here are the top four questions …

Read more

Last year, to celebrate the Centennial of the National Park Service, San Juan Island National Historical Park installed a totem pole.  This totem pole was a gift from the Lummi Tribe in celebration of their ancestral claim on the land.  Today the totem pole stands tall and proud on the edge of the parade ground …

Read more

Tom and I do Living History because it is a way to connect people intellectually and emotionally to the national parks.  Someone who might just walk through the Visitors Center will stop to talk to a soldier dressed in a red coat.  Another guest who came to take a hike might decide to read more …

Read more

Now that September is here, our time on San Juan Island is drawing to a close.  The people we have been working with this summer will be scattering for the winter.  San Juan Island National Historical Park only has a handful of full-time employees.  The rest of the folks work here from Memorial Day to …

Read more

Tom and I are used to people hiking in the National Parks where we work.  We are accustomed to talking about the history of the park and showing the movie.  We give tours and talks and pass out information.  But San Juan Island Historical Park has one activity that is new to us:  clamming. When …

Read more

Yesterday was the Great American Solar Eclipse and it was pretty awesome.  The media hyped it up and I got a little tired of hearing about solar glasses.  But, when all was said and done, it was a neat event and gave our country a moment of levity and awe when we most needed it. …

Read more

Tom and I enjoy working at English Camp, the prettier and nicer of the two parts of San Juan Island Historical Park.  I’m not bragging – English Camp is on a protected bay, the British spent more money building and equipping it, and they took better care of what they had.  Even the park movie …

Read more

Tom and I have now worked at six different national parks.  There are some similarities at all of them and some things that are different.  One of the unique things here at San Juan Island National Historical Park is the Bark Rangers.  I love swearing in Junior Rangers and giving out Bark Rangers is almost as …

Read more

The big event of the Encampment at English Camp is the Candlelight Ball on Saturday night.  All of the living history people come as well as people from the community and tourists who found out about it over the weekend. The Ball is held in the Barracks, which is also the Visitors Center.  On Monday …

Read more

This last weekend was the 2017 Encampment at English Camp at San Juan Island National Historical Park.   This is the big event for the year at the park and is always held the last weekend in July. About 40 living history volunteers come in for the event.  Many of them have been coming for …

Read more