Steilacoom - Washington States's First Incorporated Town
There's a place I go when I want solitude from my daily life. It's not far away. It's on Puget Sound. It's Steilacoom (pronounced "stillakum").
I get caught up in another time and another place when I visit this lovely historical town. I sit at the park overlooking the water on Commercial Street or take the stairs down to Salters Point Beach Picnic Area. I enjoy the sights and sounds of the splashing waterfront on this small gravel beach near the old Steilacoom Marina.
I watch the small ferry transporting inmates, workers and visitors to McNeil Island Correctional Facility on McNeil Island (see the bit of white in the upper lefthand corner - this is the correctional facillity). There is also a state ferry that takes folks to Anderson Island. I am especially contented when the sun comes out. Sometimes I just drive my car uptown and take in the historical sights.
During one such trek I found a memorial park and plaque dedicated to Mary Fletcher Perkins, M.D. by her son, Melville, at another city park. He erected the living memorial as a token to the service Dr. Perkins provided to Steilacoom residents when she was alive. I'm always pleased when each visit takes me somewhere new. My visiting grandchildren liked our stop there, but the play equipment really does suit preschoolers best.
Sometimes I head to Bair Drug and have some old-fashioned ice cream and talk with folks.
Recently I was photographing the inside of this living history museum and Denise Bay, originally from Steilacoom, asked why I was taking photos. She was with Linda Austin from Milwaukee, Oregon. We talked, and I learned that Denise's mother used to push her baby tram up the hill to the old wooden post office when she was a baby. Her mother came over from Australia on the Work Right program when her Dad was stationed at Fort Lewis. She remembers when you could barely get into the hardware/drugstore turned museum and restaurant, as there was so much stuff. She said W.L. Bair knew everything that was on the shelves. When folks would ask for a certain kind of screw, he would get it or order it. He kept a tablet for such things. He later expanded the store to include drugs and the post office. Bay's 91-year-old uncle still lives in town.
Bair Drug and Hardware, as it's now called, was built in 1895. It was the second store for Bair. The first was built on the water, once a thriving seaport and Pierce County Seat. Then Tacoma Trolley Company stopped the trolley from Tacoma at the top of Lafayette Street instead of down the hill by Bair Drug when the county seat moved to Tacoma. Bair lost business. That's when the store was built where it now stands. Driving by you will not get a feel for what's inside. You have to visit.
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