Fort Flagler Historical Museum — Attraction in Marrowstone Island

Probably the highlight of our visit to Fort Flagler, because it was such a pleasant surprise. I've visited lots of little museums, and while this one isn't huge (four rooms, plus the foyer and a little theater), it packs a punch! The curatorial staff has done an excellent job blending information about the fort's military history and life on Marrowstone Island with artifacts from the period, many of which are quite rare and not the kind of items I've seen anywhere else. Since Marrowstone was only reachable by boat for most of the Fort's existence, items had to be multi-purpose and rugged; they have examples of numerous everyday life items from the 1910s, including an early aerosol sprayers, early Bissel carpet sweep, open-blade push lawnmower, wooden water piping (who ever thought that was a good idea?), an old ice box, a gas pump, a functional sound-powered phone set that you can actually try with people on the other side of the building, plus other oddities like a washing machine that doubled as a butter churn, massive steel anti-torpedo netting from the water, and spent bazooka cartridges excavated by the park's staff. Really just fascinating. And free. You do need a park pass to park though, which is $10 for a day or $30 for the year. Visits take 30-45 minutes, maybe up to an hour if you're really reading everything and have no knowledge of forts or the local area. Tours of the hospital and one of the closed gun batteries leave from here at specific times. Make sure to check the Washington State Parks' webpage for Fort Flagler for museum hours, since they change seasonally, and call ahead of time if you're interested in one of the guided tours since the schedule for those seems to be decided based on...

Walked in and the curator was all alone. I asked a couple of questions and got 15 minutes of incredibly useful information about the history of the fort and the surrounding forts. He really knows his stuff! It's not enough just to know the dates of when it started and when it closed, or the number of soldiers that were stationed there but really the geopolitical landscape that created it and finally closed it. Really interesting if you...

Beautiful campsite. Great tour of the hospital and batteries, by guide Ron (a volunteer from Friends of Ft. Flagler. We had great success crabbing, and enjoyed walking the shoreline. The Beachcomber Cafe served up a delicious BLT and espresso milkshake and had just what we needed when we ran out of supplies. Especially extra ice. The camp hosts were kind, as was the Ranger. We loved every minute of our...