People traveling
Bainbridge Island’s busy Eagle Harbor Drive have no doubt seen it.
It’s the green beach meadow with the little white sailboat that’s
been grounded there for years.
Unbeknownst to almost everyone, this five-acre slice of waterfront has been publicly owned for more than a decade. A few years ago, it was made a park – though no official dedication or announcement was made. No signs mark it and no park maps identify it.
That’s because the
property known simply as “Lumpkin” is not quite ready for visitors
– or at least not a lot of them. Much of the property is dominated
by sensitive tidal marsh, limiting the development of trails and
other basic park infrastructure.
“But it’s a really nice spot, and it’s a different experience being in it rather that what most people do, which is see it from the other side (of the harbor),” said Dan Hamlin, the district’s park services superintendent.
Despite its
limitations, the property offers a scenic viewpoint and a pullout
for kayakers and paddleboarders. The water-side half of the meadow
is covered in sea beans (delicious
sea beans).
The property shouldn’t be confused with a park-like private property on the other side of the harbor (next to an auto repair shop).
The district has no plans for the Lumpkin property but the public is welcome to visit. Hamlin says it would fit nicely into cross-island trail network that may one day link Winslow with Gazzam Lake Nature Preserve on the island’s west side.
The meadow could be harmed by heavy visitation. The park district might consider building a boardwalk and viewing platform to protect fragile grasses from foot traffic. However, these structures would require special permitting and analysis to ensure that they have little impact on wildlife and tidal habitat, said park planner Perry Barrett.
The muddy beach was alive with little crabs when I visited recently, and at least three Canada geese families were nibbling at the meadow. The small wooded area on the property’s north side had several big snags that were obviously very popular with woodpeckers.
Unlike most of the
harbor, the Lumpkin property has no bulkhead or other beach
armoring, making it especially valuable as fish habitat.
“The fact that there’s no hard shoreline here is remarkable,” Barrett said.
The wooded area could support a stretch of trail linking to Gowen Place, off Wyatt Way, or possibly with the trails on the adjacent St. Barnabas Episcopal Church.
There are a few
indications that people in the neighborhood are enjoying the
property. A pair of plastic lawn chairs have been tucked into a
shady spot, and kids sometimes play under an immense weeping willow
on the meadow’s south edge.
The city of Bain
bridge bought the
property from the Lumpkin family of Seattle somewhere between 2000
and 2003 (as best I can tell) for $195,000. The price was about 40
percent less than its market rate price, according to a mis-dated*
article in the Bainbridge Review.
“That’s called a steal,” the city administrator told the Review. The property could have supported up to four homes, according to the article.
The city sat on the property until late 2014, when it quietly handed it and a few other undeveloped properties to the park district.
The district has classified it as a “natural area.” It will likely remain undeveloped until the big trail idea gets some traction (and money). The property wouldn’t have the trail’s main artery running through it.
“But maybe it would have a spur branching off to a nice overlook,” Hamlin said.
You can access the property via the water or a driveway branching off Gowen (noted as ‘Driveway’ in the map above). There’s no designated parking. The path into the property is near the driveway’s end. If you’re facing the water, the path will be on your right side.
Watch your step in the
meadow. There are a few sinkholes that could easily swallow a
leg.
As for the little white sailboat, park officials aren’t sure what they’ll do with it.
“But I guess we own it,” Hamlin said. “It came with the property.”
*Hundreds of articles in the Review’s online archive were accidentally re-dated “June 9, 2008.” If story was written prior to that date, chances are it is now stamped with it. For the casual reader, it makes June 9, 2008 look like one heck of an eventful day on Bainbridge Island.
Photos and maps: Tristan Baurick/Kitsap Sun
