Learn
More
About :

Park
Management

Special Use
Permit
Applications

Trip Planning

Volunteering
in the Park

Site Map

Life&Times of
George Pickett

Junior Ranger
Program

Please direct
comments, questions and
suggestions pertaining to
this site to:  

San Juan
Island NHP
P.O. Box 429
Friday Harbor, WA
98250

Telephone:
(360)378-2240
(360) 378-2902
(Wed.-Sun.)

FAX:
(360)378-2615
(360) 378-2996

E-mail:
Webmaster
Mike_Vouri@
nps.gov


For comprehensive information about the National Park Service visit:

Privacy
Information

FRIDAY HARBOR, Washington – National Park Service archaeologists began excavating a portion of English Camp’s historic Officers’ Hill stairway Monday (August 2) as the first stage in reconstructing the steps, announced Peter Dederich, park superintendent.
The stairway portion of the Officers’ Hill trail loop will be closed for about two months during excavation and construction. Visitors may continue to access the Officers’ Hill terraces via the hillside trail leading from the main entrance trail near the parking area.

A Fort Vancouver National Historic Site historical archeology crew, under the direction of Dr. Douglas Wilson, will conduct a two-week excavation of the upper portion of the stairway. While the original steps in this portion no longer exist, Wilson hopes to determine the materials and methods employed by the Royal Marines during construction in 1860. The lower portion of the stairway, composed of 12 cut limestone steps ascending the hill a few yards from the formal garden, is original to the period and will not be altered.

The British Royal Marine Light Infantry occupied the Garrison Bay site in March 1860 as part of the joint military occupation of San Juan Island between Great Britain and the United States, which continued through November 1872. Throughout the occupation, the marines made continuous improvements to the site, including an expansion of the Officers’ Hill features starting in 1867. The William Crook family purchased the site in the mid-1870s and made additional alterations in nearly 100 years of residency.

The trail from the formal garden to Officers’ Hill is a well-used feature of the park and its popularity has contributed to its becoming a safety issue in recent years, Dederich said.

“When the upper sections were rebuilt in 1990 they were placed above the long vanished stairs to protect the previously uncovered archeological evidence,” he said. “As a result, the drop-offs along the edges of the risers are severe. Consequently it has been difficult to keep the packed earth treads behind the timber risers level and at least one broken ankle has resulted.

In order to improve safety, the park recently decided to build a new stairway similar to the original by recessing it into the hillside as it was configured in 1860.

“As a National Historic Landmark, any new work must preserve the original look of the camp, while ensuring that the new construction remains distinguishable from the original steps,” Dederich said.
To achieve this end, Wilson will attempt to divine the material used for the step risers (wood, rock or limestone), the fill used for setting the steps on bedrock and if the building techniques mirror those determined in earlier archaeological excavations. The team also will screen for historic artifacts and determine if earlier steps or other historic features underlay the trail.