Seabeck, Washington

Seabeck
Unincorporated community
Seabeck Location within the state of Washington
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	Kitsap
Elevation	500 ft (200 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	1,015
Time zone	Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes	98380
GNIS feature ID	1525535

Seabeck is a former mill town in Kitsap County, Washington, United States, on the Hood Canal.

History

The name Seabeck comes from the Twana /ɬqábaqʷ/, from /ɬ-/, "far", /qab/, "smooth, calm", and /-aqʷ/, "water".

Seabeck was founded in 1857 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 been 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, turning Seabeck into a virtual ghost town.

Seabeck is a mostly rural area, consisting primarily of a conference center across the road from the general store, coffee shop, antique store, and a pizza parlor. The Olympic View Marina is open and more information regarding moorage can be found at www.olympicviewmarina.com. Otherwise, there are houses and a now-closed elementary school that serviced the areas around Seabeck. The population was 1,015 at the 2010 census.

Seabeck is also the hometown of figure skater Ashley Wagner.

Conference center

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 90 acres (360,000 m²) that now make up Seabeck Conference Center. The Conference Center is available for events during the year. For over thirty years, The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. has held its annual Deaf-Blind Retreat there, hosting Deaf-Blind visitors from across the nation and world at the Conference Center.

Seabeck Elementary

The town's primary school, Seabeck Elementary, offered kindergarten to sixth grade. It had a long and locally significant history and thus was supported by the community. However, recent events beginning in the 1990s have questioned the value of the school; the reasons included various health and safety issues. Also, the local school district has claimed to need budget cuts. Because of this, the school closed at the end of the 2006-07 school year. The future of the site has not been decided.