The Jefferson County Historical Society is launching its new guided walking tour, “Legends and Lore of Port Townsend,” this summer.

“In this tour we share stories of lore that are definitively untrue, lore that is based in fact but largely embellished, lore that is completely supported by the historic record, and lore that we might never prove one way or the other,” said Tara McCauley, the historical society’s interim executive director.

Though the tour did not officially open to the public until July 1, the historical society gave a “sneak preview” to cruise ship passengers docked at Union Wharf on Thursday, June 29.

The tour, led by McCauley, began with a land acknowledgment, as Port Townsend is located on the ancestral lands of the S’Klallam people. 

McCauley went on to explain how Port Townsend rose to prominence in the late 19th century. It was one of the busiest seaports on the West Coast, set to become the new San Francisco once the railroad arrived. Excitement and population grew in tandem as mercantiles, saloons, factories, hotels, and homes sprouted downtown to meet a future that never actually came.

The railroad stopped short in Quilcene and left Port Townsend in a rather awkward situation — all dressed up with nowhere to go. The community struggled through the bitter disappointment, experiencing population loss and financial hardships until the paper mill opened in 1928. 

The time in between was rocky and chaotic, filled with infamous, mysterious, and salacious stories that prompt the question: How do we discern fact from fiction?

Standing on the pier, McCauley directed the group’s attention across the water to the post office. This landmark, she noted, is directly tied to the story of Port Townsend’s most infamous villain, Victor Smith, the agent who actively petitioned against the post office being the point of customs. Once his intentions were discovered to be nefarious, the line between fact and fiction blurred with eerie stories about Smith that, to this day, cannot be proven or denied. 

The next stop was the Palace Hotel. McCauley delved into the ghostly lore surrounding the historic once-brothel. Ever since the Palace was refurbished into a hotel in the 1980s, many guests have reported observing similar paranormal activity: Doors slamming shut, the sounds of sobbing, and a certain person missing from her portrait. McCauley revealed the source of those shared experiences during the tour.

On a more lighthearted note, McCauley brought the group to the Haller Fountain. After explaining the historically accurate story of how the fountain’s statue became known as Galatea, she told a bizarre tale about a man in the early 1900s who put trout in the fountain and trained them to jump through hoops to entice customers to his bar. It couldn’t be true … could it?

The tour included eight stops total. At each one, McCauley masterfully wove the lore amongst the facts, asking evocative questions and shedding light on some of the mysteries that have flummoxed the minds of Port Townsend residents for more than a century.

“History and lore go hand in hand, and oftentimes the line between the two is quite blurry. All of these stories, all of these histories are intertwined in the fabric of this place,” said McCauley at the end of the tour.

Legends and Lore of Port Townsend will run through the end of the summer. 

All historical society walking tours are ADA accessible. Each tour is about one mile and lasts approximately 75 minutes.

Public tours are offered every Saturday in July and August. They cost $15 per person for historical society members, and $20 for nonmembers. 

Private tours are available Wednesdays through Sundays between March and December. They cost $180 per tour for members, and $240 for nonmembers. 

Group sizes range from two to 12.

For more information, visit jchsmuseum.org.