8 Best Sights in Port Townsend, The Olympic Peninsula and Washington Coast

With restored Victorian officers' houses and bunkers from before World War I, this fascinating 432-acre park served as the filming location for the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. Built on Point Wilson in 1896 to guard the mouth of Puget Sound, the old fort provides myriad outdoor and cultural activities for kids and adults. A sandy beach leads to the graceful 1913 Point Wilson Lighthouse. Memory's Vault, a series of pillars hidden in the hill above the inlet, features inscriptions of works from local poet Sam Hamill. Touch tanks at Port Townsend Marine Science Center on the pier offer an up-close look at sea anemones and other underwater life. Kayak tours and rentals are also available. The fort hosts music festivals in an old military balloon-hangar-turned-performing-arts-pavilion and exhibits in an artillery museum. Many of the old buildings can now be booked as overnight accommodations, and there are a couple of excellent dining options in the park: Reveille at the Commons serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and Taps at the Guardhouse is open in summer for drinks and light bites.

You can learn all about this Victorian-era seaport, one of only three such places on the register of National Historic Sites, at this striking contemporary building on the waterfront; it's the center of operations for the Wooden Boat Foundation, which stages the annual Wooden Boat Festival each September. The center has interactive exhibits, hands-on sailing instruction, boatbuilding workshops, a wood shop, and a pilot house where you can test navigational tools. Engaging history and wildlife cruises ($22) of Port Townsend Bay are given on summer Saturdays on the Admiral Jack catamaran. You can launch a kayak or watch sloops and schooners gliding along the bay from the boardwalk, pier, and beach that front the buildings. There's also an excellent gift shop, The Chandlery, and a cheerful coffee bar, Velocity.

A lovely gazebo sits in the center of this gem of a city park, perched atop a bluff overlooking Admiralty Inlet. The six well-maintained acres are perfect for picnicking and encompass a pond, a footbridge, a playground, and a whimsical, trellis-covered pathway that teems with blooms in spring. The Port Townsend Summer Band performs concerts here (and at nearby Fort Worden). Access the sliver of beach below via a short footpath.

Set high along the bay-side bluffs, the tower is recognizable by its pyramid shape and red paint job. Built in 1890 to hold a 1,500-pound brass alarm bell, the 75-foot wooden structure was once the key alert center for local volunteer firemen. A century later it's considered one of the state's most valuable historic structures. Reach the tower by climbing the steep set of stairs behind Haller Fountain at the end of Taylor Street. The tenth-of-an-acre plot also holds a park bench and five parking spots.

Take in sweeping views of Whidbey Island's magnificent bluffs and Port Townsend's Victorian skyline from what is now a 1,451-acre marine park perched at the northern tip of Marrowstone Island. This fort, along with Fort Worden in Port Townsend and Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, was constructed in 1897 as part of an "Iron Triangle" of defense for Puget Sound. Surrounded by Puget Sound on three sides, the site served as a military training center through the world wars, and still has old gun emplacements overlooking its rocky, log- and driftwood-strewn beaches. Features include a large campground, a military museum, 3½ miles of coastline, and 5 miles of hiking and biking trails; tours of the historic facilities are offered in summer. Island inlets are great for paddling around; you can book a tour or rent equipment through Olympic Kayak Tours ( 360/453–7135  www.olympickayaktours.com).

The carved-sandstone 1892 City Hall building houses this history and art museum operated by the Jefferson County Historical Society. You can also see the old courtroom and the basement cells of the old city jail, where author Jack London spent a night on his way to the Klondike in the summer of 1879. Attractions include a maritime display, clusters of Native American artifacts, vintage photos of the Olympic Peninsula, exhibits chronicling Port Townsend's past, and rotating art shows. The society operates two other sites in town, both of which are open in summer: the period-decorated 1868 Rothschild House Museum, which sits on a bluff in Uptown, and the Commanding Officers Quarters building in Fort Worden State Park.

Along the waterfront at Fort Worden State Park, the small but informative center is divided into two sections. The marine lab and aquarium building, in a former World War II military storage facility at the end of a pier, houses several aquarium displays, as well as touch tanks with sea stars, crabs, and anemones. The museum has displays detailing the region's geography and marine ecology, including one of the only orca whale skeletons in the country. Beach walks, cruises, and camps and other programs are offered throughout the summer. There's also a visitor center downtown at 1001 Water Street containing a gallery with additional exhibits and a gift shop.

Walk through the kitchen door off the garden—which contains old varieties of roses, peonies, and lilacs—and step into a different era. One of Washington's smallest state parks, operated by the Jefferson County Historical Society, offers a look into what life was like on the bluff overlooking the bay during the late 1800s. Built for a mercantile store owner and his family, the Greek Revival–style home remains largely unchanged since it was completed in 1868.