Federal Maritime Quarantine Station for Puget Sound opens at Diamond Point in Nov 1893

At the time of writing this, the covid-19, otherwise called Coronavirus is in the news and beginning to span to globe.  With that, I remembered about the quarantine station on Diamond Point in the late 19th century.  Diamond Point is Trip #37 in the book.

Diamond Point is also in the news as adjacent Miller Peninsula State Park will be expanding quite a bit fairly soon.  Read more from the Wa Trails Association

Here's some words from the History Link article on the quarantine station..

This essay made possible by:
The State of Washington
Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation.

In November 1893, the Federal Marine Quarantine Station for Puget Sound opens at Diamond Point, located at the northeastern tip of Clallam County across Discovery Bay from Port Townsend.  The Quarantine Station provides disinfection services for vessels wishing to enter Puget Sound, and an isolation hospital for passengers found to be suffering from or suspected of carrying infectious disease.  The facility will grow from three to 27 buildings

over the course of its 43 operational years.

A "Pest House" for People

Dr. B. S. Conover, previously in charge of quarantine services at the Port Townsend Marine Hospital, was the establishing physician.  After a few months he was succeeded by Dr. William G. Stimpson.

The site of the quarantine station, now Diamond Point but then known as Clallam Point, was part of a military reservation established by President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) in 1866 and dissolved in 1870. The Diamond Point land was then privately owned until 1892, when the federal government purchased 156 acres on which to build the quarantine station.

The Quarantine Hospital was an adjunct of the Port Townsend Marine Hospital.  The By Juan de

Fuca's Strait   

Marine Hospital at Port Townsend was founded by Dr. Samuel M. McCurdy (1805-1865) in 1855 to provide medical services to seamen. Isolation facilities were primitive:  Sailors with contagious diseases were isolated in a "pest-house."  James G.  McCurdy describes this isolation facility in .... READ MORE..

Rob Casey is author of Kayaking Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, 60 Trips and Stand Up Paddling Flat Water to Surf and Rivers, both by Mountaineers Books.  He owns Salmon Bay Paddle a SUP school in Seattle.  Get in touch: rob@salmonbaypaddle.com