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Fort Flagler

What is it and why visit?

Marrowstone Point and Admiralty Inlet with Mount Baker in the distance
Marrowstone Point and Admiralty Inlet with Mount Baker in the distance
Photo by Dan Coe, WGS/DNR

History buffs know that western Washington has not only a rich natural history, but also a military history that spans more than a century. Fort Flagler State Park is a piece of Washington’s historical first line of defense against maritime threats to metropolitan areas of Puget Sound. The fort was constructed in 1897 and was active until 1953. Many of the fort’s original buildings and artillery batteries are remarkably well preserved and free to explore, and several of the original officers’ houses can be rented for the night. In the summer, visitors can also take a volunteer-guided tour of the gun emplacements and other historic sites for a small donation. Perched on high bluffs and surrounded on three sides by water, the park offers panoramic views as well as a perfect vantage point for observing ship traffic into and out of Puget Sound.

Be aware that this area is part of a tsunami hazard zone. Go here to learn more about tsunami hazards in Washington.

Beach and bluff on the west side of Fort Flagler State Park
Beach and bluff on the west side of Fort Flagler State Park
Photo by Dan Coe, WGS/DNR

Geologic story

Eroding bluff on the north side of Fort Flagler State Park
Eroding bluff on the north side of Fort Flagler State Park
Photo by Dan Coe, WGS/DNR
The bluffs at Fort Flagler are exceptional

Between 11 and 20 thousand years ago, approximately a third of Washington State lay buried under the huge mass of a continental ice sheet. Part of the ice sheet, called the Puget Lobe, extended just south of Olympia, near the town of Tenino. The slow-moving glacier was several miles thick in places and put a great amount of pressure on the landscape. This weight created deep troughs. As the glacier melted and retreated, seawater began to flood back into the sound from the Pacific Ocean. The seawater filled the troughs left behind by the glacier, forming the inlets, bays, and channels of modern-day Puget Sound.

As the ice sheet carved out the complex waterways of Puget Sound, it also created tall bluffs. These bluffs, some reaching up to 400 feet in elevation, represent the steep sides of the troughs cut by the glacier. The bluffs are made of thick layers of sand- and gravel-rich glacial deposits, capped by concrete-like glacial till. These rocks have been spectacularly exposed by coastal erosion.

A glacial erratic in the forested uplands of Fort Flagler State Park
A glacial erratic in the forested uplands of Fort Flagler State Park
Photo by Dan Coe, WGS/DNR

Walk for more than a mile along the northern shoreline of Marrowstone Island to get a good view of the bluffs, which are approximately 100 feet tall in places. Also notice glacial erratics on the beach. These are boulders that were picked up and carried along by the ice sheet, only to be dropped and stranded far from home as the glacier retreated.

Schematic of a typical eroding Puget Sound bluff
Schematic of a typical eroding Puget Sound bluff
Graphic by WGS/DNR

In 2013, geologists surveyed the bluffs along Puget Sound’s 2,500 miles of shoreline. They labeled 17 percent, or 416 miles, as ‘feeder bluffs’. These are bluffs that are actively eroding, bolstering the beaches below with a constant supply of sand and gravel. Two percent of Puget Sound’s feeder bluffs have been classified as ‘exceptional,’ for their above-average rate of erosion and sediment delivery. About one third of the feeder bluffs at Fort Flagler are exceptional, making them an important part of the local beach system.

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Fun Fact

Fort Flagler and nearby Forts Casey and Worden can be thought of as a “triangle of fire”. If enemy ships had tried to enter Admiralty Inlet, they would have faced fire from three directions. Each of Fort Flagler’s nine battery guns had a range of nearly 10 miles, and protected against enemy attacks by sea.

What to see and do

Please remember that while visiting these timeless places to only take photos and leave footprints. For many public lands, including Washington State Parks, you will find that State Law (RCW 79A.05.165) prevents you from taking anything from the property unless you have a valid scientific research permit. We need to preserve our public lands for generations yet to come and take care to keep our Parks and public lands from being destroyed bit by bit. Please leave all items in the Parks and follow Park specific rules that help protect our treasured places from the very small to the very large, from temporal to forever. Thank you and enjoy!

Getting There

From Port Hadlock, take State Route 116 (Ness’s Corner Road) east about 2 miles and turn left onto Fort Flagler Road (also State Route 116). Follow Fort Flagler Road about 8 miles to Fort Flagler State Park on Marrowstone Island.

Nearby Amenities

Photo gallery

Bibliography

Dunagan, Christopher, 2016, Sources of sand: Maps show crucial “feeder bluffs” [webpage]: Puget Sound Institute, University of Washington. [accessed Apr. 3, 2019 at [https://www.eopugetsound.org/magazine/armoring-bluffs]

Johannessen, Jim; MacLennan, Andrea, 2007, Beaches and bluffs of Puget Sound: Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership Technical Report 2007-04. [accessed Dec. 27, 2019 at [http://www.pugetsoundnearshore.org/technical_papers/beaches_bluffs.pdf]

Schasse, H. W.; Slaughter, S. L., 2005, Geologic map of the Port Townsend south and part of the Port Townsend north 7.5-minute quadrangles, Jefferson County, Washington: Washington State Department of Natural Resources Geologic Map GM-57, 1 plate, scale 1:24,000.

Shipman, Hugh; MacLennan, Andrea; Johannessen, Jim, 2014, Puget Sound feeder bluffs: Coastal erosion as a sediment source and its implications for shoreline management: Washington Department of Ecology Publication No. 14-06-016.

Washington Department of Ecology, 2019, Feeder bluff mapping of Puget Sound: Washington Department of Ecology. [accessed Apr. 4, 2019, at [https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/parts/1406016part1.pdf]

Washington Department of Ecology, 2019, Washington State Coastal Atlas: State of Washington Washington Department of Ecology. [accessed Apr. 3, 2019, at [https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/coastalatlas/]

Washington State Parks, 2019. Fort Flagler Historical State Park [webpage]: Washington State Parks. [accessed Apr. 3, 2019, at [https://parks.state.wa.us/508/Fort-Flagler]