Kayaking into a history lesson

By Meg Olson

There’s a new Point Roberts history out there, thanks to an avid kayaker and her desire to know more about the places she visits.

Lighthouse Marine Park is the northernmost campsite for travelers on the Cascadia Marine Trail, a 140-mile saltwater trail that stretches from the Canadian border to the bottom of Puget Sound. It features 58 campsites available to non-motorized beachable watercraft.

Traveling along the Cascadia Marine Trail in her boat, Borell said she often wondered about the places she was visiting. “You see something and wonder what the story behind it is,” she said.

Recently retired, she contacted the Washington Water Trails Association, which publishes online and printable guides to this and other water trails, volunteering to write site histories of the campsites on the Cascadia Marine Trail. They took her up on it. Their website has now published nine of her site histories for stops on the list, including Deception Pass, Camano Island and Fort Ebey.

To compile her history of the Point Borell spent time working with the local library and the historical society, as well as the Seattle Public Library and the state archives in Olympia. “With such a wealth of material to cover, I hope my final product does justice to this unique corner of the state that the residents obviously care so much about,” she wrote.

Borell’s history of the Point is now available at bit.ly/2tulLPF–click the site history link at the bottom.