Although Port Townsend is a cozy-sized community that wears its heritage as a Victorian seaport on its sleeve, there remain depths left for residents and visitors alike to plumb in this region’s history, with no shortage of resources available to explore those corners of the past.

In addition to presenting fictional drama onstage, the Key City Public Theatre has conducted “Hidden History Tours” during the Port Townsend Victorian Festival, in conjunction with the Port Townsend Main Street Program, to answer questions such as, “Who was the ‘Crimper King’ of Port Townsend?” and “Why did the original Union Wharf collapse?”

Likewise, the Northwest Maritime Center’s Port Townsend Bay Tours, running from June 28 through Aug. 31 this year, allow passengers of all ages to hour-long cruises onboard the catamaran Admiral Jack, while its crew shares the history of the seaside village, to views of the local marine wildlife, as well as the Olympic and Cascade Mountains.

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center not only includes an aquarium and a natural history museum at Fort Worden State Park, which features a modest collection of fossil specimens highlighting the deep history of the Salish Sea region, but has also partnered with Puget Sound Express to offer seasonal bird-watching cruises around Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge, which provide insights on the natural history of both the island and its birds and wildlife.

And the Jefferson County Historical Society conducts multiple categories of walking tours.

If you’re in the mood to get some exercise, by trekking through the less-tamed outdoors, the JCHS partners with the North Olympic History Center to offer “History Hikes,” exploring the history of Indigenous peoples such as the S’Klallam by hiking the Olympic Discovery Trail in Blyn around the head of Sequim Bay, walking the beaches of Port Williams and Marlyn Nelson County Park in east Clallam County, and touring the Dungeness River Levee Trail.

Closer to home, the JCHS historic downtown walking tours of Port Townsend also note how the town emerged from the ancestral lands of the S’Klallam peoples, before rising to prominence in the late 19th century as one of the busiest seaports on the West Coast, drawing not only sailors and immigrants, but also a host of mercantiles, saloons, factories, hotels and brothels.

The “Legends and Lore of Port Townsend” walking tour is billed by the JCHS as drawing from some of the more “infamous, mysterious and salacious” stories in Port Townsend’s history, as it examines how documents, photos, physical evidence and tales passed down have affected how we distinguish fact from fiction.

Similarly, the JCHS “Vanishing Murals of Port Townsend” walking tour highlights the remaining advertising murals in town that were so ubiquitous throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Although since faded, the large and colorful signs promoting goods ranging from cars to beer can still be spotted, like ghosts hiding in plain sight, with the help of the JCHS walking tour guides, who can elaborate on how the remnants of those murals continue to contribute to the character of downtown Port Townsend.

If you’d prefer to walk on your own, at your own pace, the JCHS even offers online digital booklets for self-guided historical tours, from the historic downtown architecture of the Hastings Building, the Rose Theatre and the Haller Fountain, to tours of the Point Hudson waterfront Park and marina, as well as the Čičməhán Trail developed by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s Native Connections Action Group.

And the Jefferson Museum of Art and History is set to continue showing “Journey Stories,” an educational poster exhibition covering American expansion and migration, from the European settlers and Native American displacement to the effects of transportation advancements on modern mobility, through July 28.