Qualla: Smith Island (Washington)

Smith Island (Washington): Introduction

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lianguanlun, CC BY 4.0. The lighthouse stood 200 feet from the western bluff when it was built in 1858. By the 1950s, erosion had brought the cliff to the front door, and the keepers walked away. For nearly two more decades the ruin clung to the crumbling edge, a slow-motion collapse that ended in the spring of 1998 when the last stones finally let go. Smith Island, a low grass-and-rock platform in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, has been losing ground to the sea for as long as anyone has watched. What remains belongs to the birds.

Image: Lianguanlun | CC BY 4.0

Smith Island (Washington): Isla de Bonilla

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lianguanlun, CC BY 4.0. Spanish navigator Jose Maria Narvaez was the first European to chart the island, in 1791, naming it Isla de Bonilla. Hudson's Bay Company traders renamed it Smith Island sometime in the first half of the 19th century, though exactly which Smith they honored has been lost to histo...

Image: Lianguanlun | CC BY 4.0

Smith Island (Washington): The Light That Fell

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lianguanlun, CC BY 4.0. The Smith Island Light was one of the earliest navigational aids on the inland waters of Washington. Constructed in 1858, it guided vessels through the strait for nearly a century. But the island's western bluff was retreating steadily, carved away by winter storms and tidal surg...

Image: Lianguanlun | CC BY 4.0

Smith Island (Washington): A Kingdom of Wings and Whiskers

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lianguanlun, CC BY 4.0. Today Smith and Minor Islands are part of the San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and they are almost always closed to the public. The restriction exists for good reason. The low, grassy terrain and rocky beaches provide critical habitat for nesting seabirds -- gulls, corm...

Image: Lianguanlun | CC BY 4.0