Guemes Island has a Peach Preserve. Not a jar of peach preserves, but The Peach Preserve. Or call it the Samish homeland. Or call it the Shipyard Place, or Demopoulos’ Marsh, or the only San Juan Preservation Trust property in Skagit County. It’s a wetland, meadow and shoreline all wrapped into one simple hiking destination right in our front yard, a short kayak ride or a ferry ride and bike ride or beach stroll from downtown Anacortes. But it is so much more than that when you look deeper. Originally a part of the Samish peoples’ home front, the gentle beach was part of their life, a gathering place for family times and tribal events. In the last century, being on the busy Guemes Channel, this area became part of a World War I shipyard, but when the war ended the shipyard was abandoned, becoming overgrown with neglect. Overgrown, what a curious term. Eventually the local Demopoulos family acquired the property. They have been a respected and well-connected name in Anacortes for a long time. Eventually they considered selling the property to be developed into housing. But another alternative began to grow. For more than two decades, there had been strong interest in preserving the ecological and open-space values of the marsh. State agencies such as the Washington Department of Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources, along with local and regional conservation organizations, environmental groups, and the Guemes Island community, searched for ways to protect this property. A trio of Guemes Islanders, Ann Magnano, Delphine Haley, and Ferdinand “Ferdi” Businger, held onto the vision to protect the beach and wetland for future generations to enjoy as a community treasure, and went to work. For a long time. The Skagit Land Trust did not yet exist, so they approached the San Juan Preservation Trust to work with them. Together they approached Priscilla “Patsy” Bullitt Collins of the Bullitt Foundation to ask for financial assistance. She visited the property and saw its key location as important to our community values. “The entrance to the San Juan Islands should be this kind of place,” she said. She donated $1.5 million for the purchase of the property. The land was re-christened Peach Preserve in honor of her childhood family nickname. I visited the 64-acre Preserve on a sunny day in June. I entered along the beach from the west side and saw two older gentlemen resting on a bench in the meadow. I kept going and followed the trail that parallels the 13-acre wetland, becoming entranced by the chorus of bird songs serenading me as I walked and then stopped to listen. Cedar waxwings fluttered through the bushes which were ripe with berries. White-crowned sparrows and red-winged blackbirds added to the choir, while a turkey vulture passed closely over my head. I decided to keep moving. The quarter-mile trail follows the wetland’s edge from one end to the other, then leads you out to the beach, where you will see some restoration work along with interpretive panels sharing the story of the Peach Preserve. It was here I saw the two gentlemen who were resting earlier, now walking along the beach toward me. The older of the two gingerly stepped across the low beach logs as the other walked alongside. I greeted them and we started a pleasant conversation. I explained how appreciative I was of the folks who worked so hard to protect this Preserve, especially the three people mentioned on the sign. The younger of the two men then identified himself as Ferdi Businger, one of the three key people to have seen the process through to completion! What a serendipitous meeting! He introduced his father, Joost, aged 96, who was accompanying him on this walk, and getting along just fine, thank you, and enjoying the lovely day. Ferdi and I then talked about the work involved over the decades to finally be successful in protecting this area; he shared how charming “Peach” Bullitt was as she got to know the land and then provided the essential funding for the acquisition. As I watched the two of them head back up the trail into the woods, I realized just how deep and diverse an experience they had of this land, how their walk here was bathed in stories and memories and hopes and dreams and challenges, and rewards in meeting those challenges, seeing the success of their long and trying efforts having resulted in this relatively small but important landmark being here for us all, and for wildlife, and for all time. And then I saw in my mind Samish tribal members stepping into those woods a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, stepping away from this one corner of their home as they wandered toward other familiar landmarks and villages and gathering places that they knew so well, these lands that still throng with their returning ancestors that once filled and still love this beautiful land. My recent and casual walks here are just the beginning of the growth of a love of this place. I am a latecomer with much to learn and experience about yet another hike close to home. The Peach Preserve is not a long hike. It’s only a quarter mile of forested walk in off the road, a quarter mile along the wetland, a quarter mile back along the beach, and then a quarter mile of forest back to the road, or alternatively a short hike staying on the beach to get back to the ferry. But linger here, enjoy this wide open space held in trust for us all, now preserved as the scenic gateway along the Channel and as a few dozen acres of shoreline and wetland that is once again becoming as the Salish once enjoyed it. The Peach Preserve is small but sweet. Go taste its many pleasantries and simple pleasures. And let the deeper stories and history linger in your memories long after you have headed back home. jack Directions:
Take the Guemes Ferry from the terminal at 6th and I in Anacortes to Guemes Island. Hike the beach westward about a half mile at low tide, or walk or ride your bike along Southshore Drive westward until you come to the small vertical entrance sign marking the entrance of the trail. There is a bike rack here for your convenience.
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Maribeth Crandell has been a hiking guide in the Pacific NW for over 20 years. She's lived on Whidbey and Fidalgo Island for decades. As a frequent bus rider she easily makes connections between trails and transit. Archives by date
March 2024
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