Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve The Land, The People, The Place: An Introduction to the Inventory

NOTES ON THE INVENTORY: SURVEY METHODOLOGY

For fourteen weeks during the summer of 1983, the Pacific Northwest Regional Office of the National Park Service had a project team working at Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve. The team consisted of five individuals with backgrounds in historic preservation and landscape architecture. Project goals included a complete inventory of all pre-1940 structures, and a record of all natural and manmade landscape features that are located within the 17,400 acre reserve.

From the beginning, the two parts of the inventory -- buildings and landscape -- were viewed as two distinct but interrelated elements that together create a composite picture of the reserve. This is the foundation of a cultural landscape inventory. For both the historians and landscape architects, this presented many interesting and innovative approaches to the actual survey. What follows is a brief description of the survey methods developed by the team and used to document the cultural landscape of Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve.

LANDSCAPE INVENTORY

Introduction: Process

The landscape portion of the inventory documents the reserve s natural and manmade elements. The first week of the project was spent canvassing all 17,400 acres on Ebey's Landing. This helped the team form both physical and mental images of the whole reserve. From that information, the team divided the reserve into ten basic and distinct character areas based on natural land features such as ridges and woodlands, and cultural patterns such as roads and political boundaries. These divisions provided a conceptual framework for the inventory as a whole.

The second phase was the heart of the landscape inventory and involved the actual field work. The goal was to document existing landscape components within the reserve and record the information on 8 1/2 x 11 inventory cards. One of the project tasks involved design of the cards themselves. While architectural inventories had been conducted by the National Park Service and others, this was the first landscape inventory to be documented using an 8 1/2 x 11 format.

Using criteria for identifying and naming various landscape components explored by Robert Melnick, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon, and adapted to Ebey's Landing, the card was developed over a two week test period. It was designed to accommodate a variety of scales and information, maps, diagrams, and photographs used in cataloguing a single unit of land.

In this study a unit of land was one half of a USGS section; an area measuring one mile by one half mile or 310 acres.This unit was chosen for two reasons. First, a parcel this size could be seen from one place if there were no visual barriers and could be thoroughly explored by car and on foot in a two to three hour period. Second, the information that required mapping could be read and rendered clearly at this scale.

To facilitate the field work, each inventory card had to stand alone as an individual piece of the larger reserve. Altogether, there were 66 cards describing the various components and related landscape qualities of Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve.

Field Techniques: Documentation

Before going out into the field, the landscape architects gathered as much information as possible from existing sources including USGS maps, historic photographs and aerial photographs. The task was to record specific landscape elements in a consistent and objective manner. The first step was to locate the site. Every half section was first identified by a standard USGS map number and quad name. For example, Site ID: S. SEC. 36, T-32, R-1 W, Quad Name: Coupeville, locates this particular half-section in the south half of USGS section number 36 in Township 32, Range 1 West in the Coupeville Quadrangle. The sources which support the information on the card are indicated, as well as the date and names of the team members who completed the documentation.

The next step was to write a brief description locating the specific half-section in the context of the entire reserve. For consistency, the description always located the unit in reference to the character areas of the reserve, primary access routes and general spatial patterns. This description addressed the broad relationships between material components and predominant landforms.

Those patterns were then explored in more depth according to general land use categories such as agriculture, ranching, natural vegetation, and so on. There are six categories in all and usually more than one use within a single unit of land. The team calculated the approximate percentage of each current land use within every half-section. The percentages added together give broad and general land use patterns for the entire reserve.

In order to express land use categories in more detail, those general patterns were next broken down into specific land use activities. For example, if the general land use was agriculture, the more specific use was cropland of some kind. In this inventory, rather than name individual crops, the team indicated whether the crop was rotating like a corn or wheat field, or permanent like an orchard or berry field. Other categories were treated in a similar fashion.

Ranching was refined to indicate whether animals grazed in open pastures or were contained in holding areas associated with dairy complexes. Areas of natural vegetation were designated either forest, grassland or wetland. Residential uses were either multiple, as part of a subdivision, or single individual homes, Commercial land uses were broken down into three specific areas: towns, like Coupeville, single buildings outside the city limits and commercial groups which indicate working farm complexes. In every case, these land uses and patterns were defined by a variety of elements referred to as boundaries.

The inventory names both natural and manmade boundaries at a variety of scales. For example, topographic boundaries include ridges, bluffs, ravines and shorelines. Vegetative boundaries include large forest areas as well as hedgerows. Cultural boundaries such as roads, fences and political lines (like city limits) were also noted.

Any significant features and historical information is included as a note on the front of the card. Photographs supporting the verbal descriptions of the landscape were added showing surrounding land uses, significant buildings and overall site character.

The back of the card included the USGS map at 1:8000 with all components diagramed and keyed, and a small location map which locates the particular half section in the reserve. A cross section was drawn to show primary and significant relationships among landscape components. A photographic panorama added a dimension to the map giving another overall character image for that particular section. Finally, the landscape cards are cross-referenced to the architecture cards listing every pre-1940 building in that half-section.

BUILDING INVENTORY

Introduction: Process

The building inventory of all pre-1940 residential and commercial structures located in the reserve was conducted by three historians with backgrounds in historic preservation. In order to complete an inventory card for each site or structure, it was necessary to first collect background information relating to various aspects of the reserve. Using primary and secondary sources, research was conducted at the Island County Historical Society, the University of Washington, the State and Federal Archives, and the State Library in Olympia. Local newspapers, historic photographs and oral histories also proved to be valuable resources.

The second phase of the building inventory was to conduct field work at each pre-1940 site. Before that could occur it was necessary for the team to get an approximate count of all pre-1940 sites. The historians conducted a windshield survey, driving all roads within the reserve, and plotted suspected pre-1940 sites on a USGS map.

Next, the Island County Assessor Records were searched to help confirm dates on every site. In some cases buildings were added to the inventory because they were not originally identified in the windshield survey due to major alterations to the older structure. In other cases, buildings were eliminated from the inventory because the assessor records showed a post-1940 construction date.

During this time building inventory cards were designed, adapted from a previous card format. The intent was to have the cards tie both graphically and thematically to the landscape cards while providing all the necessary sections for thoroughly documenting a building. Basic information included the building/site's historic and common name; address; date of construction; past and present use; architectural description; location map; photographs of the site; and references. The building cards also were cross-referenced to a landscape card, setting a context for the site.

Field Techniques: Documentation

The field work provided nearly all the information needed to complete an inventory card for a site. Documentation of the building or site consisted of three components: writing an architectural description of the main building; taking photographs of the site; and recording historic information relevant to the site.

To help the team complete architectural descriptions at each site a field checklist was developed. This list allowed the team to quickly note the major features of a building. For example, the style of the building, its shape, height, roof, type and exterior material could be noted quickly while the window types and decorative features needed time to describe. Notable landscape features were also recorded. These included elements such as outbuildings, orchards, fences, gates and stone walls.

When possible, an attempt was made to characterize a building by an architectural style. The decorative elements of a structure and its massing determined the style, and many different styles are found in the reserve. The more prominent ones include the Saltbox; Vernacular Farmhouse; Queen Anne; Italianate and Second Empire styles; and the Bungalow. When a structure lacked architectural ornamentation, it was usually referred to as a Vernacular Residence.

The second component of the field work involved photographing the site. The main building had both a frontal and 3/4 view taken, with close-up photos taken of interesting architectural details like a porch or bay window. Outbuildings such as barns and sheds were also photographed. Finally, a wide-angle view of the building or complex was taken to show the relationship of the building to the surrounding landscape. This view was particularly important when using the landscape inventory for understanding the physical locale of a site.

The third component of the field work involved gathering historic information from property owners, residents or neighbors. Construction dates, exterior changes in the building, the names of builders or carpenters and the names of past owners were all included in building histories when known.

Once the field work was completed and recorded on the cards, a determination was made as to whether the site contributed to the reserve on some level of significance according to the criteria set by the National Register. The following criteria was used for this decision process:

A building/site contributed to the reserve if:

1. it represented a broad pattern of development in the reserve, and/or
2. it related to a person important to the history of the reserve, and/or
3. it illustrated a type or period of construction significant to the overall history of the area.

If a building/site met one of these criteria and retained integrity of design, materials, workmanship, it was considered to be a contributing site.

Owners of properties determined to contribute to the significance of the reserve will be eligible to take advantage of grants and tax incentives available for rehabilitating National Register properties.

As a whole, the Building and Landscape Inventory will be used to expand the existing National Register of Historic Places' nomination. It will reflect not only the historical development of the area during the nineteenth century but will also include the first half of the twentieth century, as mandated in the legislation that established the reserve. The document will also serve as a tool for the Citizen's Trust Board to use in managing the reserve's resources and making informed decisions regarding its future.