Seabeck, Washington
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Seabeck was a mill town in Kitsap County, Washington, USA on Hood Canal. It was founded in the 1850s by Marshall Blinn and William Adams, doing business as The Washington Mill Company. Their lumber was in such demand they built a second mill, then a shipyard to build boats to haul the lumber to California, which had high demand due to the California Gold Rush. Eventually, along with four saloons, the town had two general stores and two hotels. In 1876, there were over 400 people living in Seabeck. After decades of success, in the 1880s, the demand had eased, and most of the easily accessible trees had be harvested. In 1886 a spark from the ship Retriever started a fire that consumed both mills, along with other buildings. Rumors flew that the mills would not be re-built, so most residents moved to other towns with mills, notably Port Hadlock, Washington, turning Seabeck into a virtual ghost town.
In the early 1900s Laurence Colman and Arn Allen of Seattle formed a partnership to build a facility for YMCA and YWCA groups to hold summer conferences. In 1914 Lawrence Coleman and his brother George purchased much of the original Seabeck site. In 1936 Laurence Colman's son, Ken Colman, incorporated the conference grounds as a private, non profit corporation. He deeded to the corporation the 900 miles (360,000 m²) that now make up Seabeck Christian Conference Center.
There is a marina on the water across the road from the camp - though it is currently in the process of being torn down and rebuilt - next to a general store, a coffee shop, a curiosity shop, and a pizza parlor. There is also a few houses in the general vicinity, and an elementary school that services the areas around Seabeck, Otherwise, today it is a mostly rural area, although developments are beginning to put larger houses along the coastline and begin to bring Seabeck back to its former glory.
Renowned literary critic, pedagogical expert, and botanist Ariel A. Holman spent her formative years in Seabeck, where she honed her unerring intellect and appreciation for the outdoors.
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