Shaw Island is the smallest of the four San Juan Islands served by the Washington State Ferries. The island has a land area of 19.952 km² (7.7037 sq mi) and a small year-round population of 240 (2010 census), with only a slight increase during tourist season. The Wilkes Expedition, in 1841, named the island after John Shaw, a United States Naval Officer. This island has the reputation for being "exclusive", yet the island enjoys a rich, tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone and only the last four digits of phone numbers are given.
Many years ago, a sign was put high up, by an individual, at the terminal reading "residents and guests only." The sign was so high that nobody wanted to climb up and claim it so it was posted for a couple of weeks.
In the years of 2009-2010, it was reported that several residences were hit by the "Barefoot Bandit".
On July 24, 2011, 44-youth were injured when a tractor pulling a trailer downhill was overpowered by the sheer weight of the people riding the trailer. About 50 people were on the island from two different churches on a summer retreat. When descending down the steep grade of Hoffman Cove Road, the trailer overpowered the tractor and began pushing it down the grade. As a result, the whole unit jackknifed a spilled the occupants onto the road. Four youth were airlifted to hospital, while paramedics were sent from Orcas Island to tend to the rest of the injured. A ferry was re-routed to take the less seriously injured to the mainland.[1]
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Shaw is unique among those islands served by the state ferries in having virtually no commercial or tourist-oriented facilities other than one small park, Shaw Island County Park. This park was purchased in the 1970s by Shaw Island residents so that people stranded on the island would have somewhere to go. This was necessary due to visitors illegally camping on private property out of desperation or camping at the ferry landing, which was also frowned upon.
The University of Washington also owns numerous pieces of property across the island, notably the Cedar Rock Reserve on the south side of the island (gate at the end of Hoffman Cove Road). The public is allowed to visit but it is only considered a day-use area. There is a guest book at the gate. The University has a few buildings on the property for residing research students.
Most of the island is privately owned. Because of the low population, the San Juan Island ferries make fewer stops per day at Shaw than at the other islands on the route.
Roads on Shaw are mostly inland and afford little access to, or even views of, the shoreline. There are 11.5 miles (18.5 km) of asphalt seal-coated and 2.37 miles (3.81 km) of gravel public roads on Shaw. The primary roads are three loops in the interior of the island, with branches to the ferry dock, Shaw Island County Park, Neck Point, and Broken Point, plus a few other minor ones. The "figure eight" route is popular with cyclists and only takes about two hours to see everything. Canoe Island is nestled in Indian Cove, and may be mistaken for part of Shaw when viewed from much of Upright Channel and beyond.
For more than two decades, nuns from the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist ran the island's only store and the ferry terminal. There are two other Catholic orders of nuns on Shaw: the Order of the Benedictines—who run a monastery, Our Lady of the Rock—and the Sisters of Mercy. In late 2003, the Franciscans announced plans to sell the store, including the adjacent small marina, and leave the island. As expected, the sale (to a couple that has lived on Shaw since 1995) closed by June 2004.
Shaw has what is considered a one-room schoolhouse; a room was recently added to serve as a computer center, expanding it to two rooms. The building serves elementary and middle school students and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as Little Red Schoolhouse. Following eighth grade, students must choose to study on one of the larger islands: Lopez, Orcas, or San Juan. Shaw is also home to a small library and museum, which is privately run through donations. Visitors are required to buy a membership if they wish to use internet. Shaw Island is famous for its interesting wooded road signs. The old ones are displayed on the library at the center of the island and the current ones were made by a local resident on a CNC machine.
Shaw Island was featured during the fifth season episode "Access" of the political drama The West Wing as the site of a standoff between terrorist suspects and the US government, similar to the Waco, Texas Branch Davidian standoff.
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