A century ago, Weaverling Spit was a popular picnic spot. Families flocked to Sunrise Park on its eastern edge to swim in Fidalgo Bay and play on its shores.
The idyllic spot with views of March Point, nearby islands and Mount Baker was just the place for a dance hall and drinking establishment built a few decades later, probably around 1937.
Today, the Samish Indian Nation, which owns the spit, wants to restore the area to its natural state. It’s working to turn the clock back past the more recent days when the derelict dance hall was a party spot for underage drinkers armed with candles and beer, past the days when 1937 Anacortes High School graduate Anna Marie Gilhousen went out there with “the gals” to dances, and even past the days of community Fourth of July celebrations and pioneer picnics.
A big step came recently when the old dance hall was demolished. Along with it went 43,000 pounds of invasive, non-native English ivy and the remnants of six worn-out cabins.
What the Samish aim for is returning the 7.5 acres to a time when native plants flourished, ivy didn’t strangle the trees and birds and wildlife thrived on the property.
The spit was originally named after settlers James and Frances Weaverling, who came to Fidalgo Island with their children in the 1870s. It was used by the community to celebrate the Fourth of July in 1919 and the Skagit County Pioneers’ annual picnic in 1920, according to Anacortes American articles at the time.
At some point, a mine was also on the property — the remnants of which were blown off with 75 tons of dynamite in 1920. The rock fragments from the explosion were used for riprap on the causeway underneath today’s Tommy Thompson Trail.
Picnic tables and a stand to sell cold drinks were added in 1928 by resident R. W. Brunson, increasing the area’s appeal to swimmers and picnickers. The land was owned by Fidalgo Land Company at the time, but the public had free use of it “as long as property rights are respected and shrubbery and trees undamaged,” according to the American.
In 1922, the newspaper reported Brian Vivian, owner of the Empire Theater in downtown Anacortes, planned to build “a convenient and well-equipped outing place and picnic grounds for parties from the mainland” on the property.
The improvements were to include a bathhouse on the lower floor of a two-story building and a dancing pavilion on the top floor complete with verandah extending over the water.
“Springboards and floats will be put in for the bathers, and the road will be widened and plenty of room provided for parking cars,” the paper said. “The underbrush will be cleared away and burned, stoves for cooking provided and water will be piped down from the spring.”
Samish cultural resources manager Diana Barg could not find any documentation showing when or if the building was ever permitted, but community members she’s spoken to remember it coming about in the 1930s as a dance hall and drinking establishment.
The building was enlarged at some point as evidenced by some newer materials, but Barg said she didn’t know when the work was done.
She also had no indication when it was abandoned, though she and Samish Natural Resources director Christine Woodward were told by a few people they used to party there 30 or 40 years ago.
“It created a whole dynamic of people going and cutting loose,” Woodward said.
A 51-year-old former Mount Vernon resident, who did not want to be identified, said he partied at the old dance hall a couple of times in the early ’70s. He called it the party headquarters for the underage and a good place to get out of the rain.
He also pointed out the spit was not within city limits at the time, so law enforcement was lax.
The Samish boarded up the building and taped off the area, but the boards were always pulled off and people still got in, Woodward said. When the stairs were removed, some people even tried to jump in the top floor windows from the chimney.
Though people insisted on using it, very little trash was left behind in the building — only a few candles, the occasional beer cans and paint balls, Woodward said. For the most part, people removed their garbage.
But through the years, the building progressively deteriorated with holes punched through the floors and windows broken. The structure was getting worse and worse each year, Woodward said.
It was also an eyesore from the water, said Samish General Manager Leslie Eastwood. She added that there was also the fear someone would get injured.
The Samish Tribal Council decided last summer to take the building down. It had no significance to the tribe and the area was considered a cultural and spiritual space.
Bryan Trucking of Burlington was hired to do the job during the first two weeks of February. Barg monitored the work to make sure the cultural significance of the area, which was used by tribes for thousands of years for shell fishing and animal processing, was not impacted.
The work involved crushing the cement foundation down to get the landscape as close to original level as possible, Eastwood said. Material from the demolished house itself, such as piping, was hauled away while the wood structure was chipped for ground covering — some left behind on the area where the house once stood.
Old appliances discarded throughout the years were also removed and power poles and lines were taken out in January by Puget Sound Energy.
“For me the view is just breathtaking,” Woodward said on a recent walk down the spit.
In addition to the dance hall, six small cabins were taken out about five years ago by a tribal member who went in with a backhoe under the direction of the tribal council.
The ivy was removed this year by a Whatcom County Alternative Corrections crew that worked for eight days hand pulling it from the trees.
The dance hall removal was completed mid-February right before the eagle nesting season so as not to disturb the pair of eagles living in a well-established nest on one of the highest trees on the spit.
The Samish will continue maintenance to keep the ivy from coming back, and Woodward hopes to get funding to plant more native plant species. As for the wildlife and birds, they started coming in after the ivy was removed, giving them room to settle in.
