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Monthly Archives: February 2015

Tanglewood Island Lighthouse and Great Hall before demolition

Tanglewood Island Lighthouse and Great Hall before demolition

On a recent cruise through Hale Passage, along Fox Island’s north shore, I was dismayed to see that the ‘Great Hall’ on Tanglewood Island had been demolished. It had been a well known and much photographed landmark since it was erected in 1947. Part of the lighthouse structure is still standing, just off the shore, but the main hall was demolished on January 24th, 2014.

The lighthouse structure and great hall were built by Dr. Alfred Schultz in 1947.

All that is left of the "Fox Island Lighthouse" on Tanglewood Island

All that is left of the “Fox Island Lighthouse” on Tanglewood Island

He had purchased the land in 1933, and later constructed a boys camp called ‘Ta-Ha-Do-Wa‘ on what was then known as Graves Island It was renamed to Tanglewood Island in 1947. Dr. Schultz used the lighthouse as his office and a dormitory for the camp’s staff, occasionally even lighting the beacon to appear like a real navigational aid.

It’s sad news that such a well known and loved icon fell into disrepair through neglect and had to be torn down.

Mount Rainier and Tanglewood Island Lighthouse before demolition.

Mount Rainier and Tanglewood Island Lighthouse before demolition.

Mount Rainier as seen from Oro Bay.

Mount Rainier as seen from Oro Bay.

For Valentine’s Day, we grabbed some nice steaks and headed down to Oro Bay on Anderson Island (South Puget Sound). The wind was predicted to howl out of the North on the following day, so rather than anchor down by the Tacoma Yacht Club outstation, we decided to anchor on the North Side of the Bay and basically had the entire bay and Nisqually Reach all to ourselves.

Beautiful Sunset for VD day in Oro Bay

Beautiful Sunset for VD day in Oro Bay

The water was calm, the sunset colors were amazing, the steaks were melt-melt-in-your-mouth good and Mount Rainer was perfectly framed in the pilothouse windows. What a wonderful way to spend a very happy Valentine’s Day. Makes me want to never, ever leave!

I had passed by Oro Bay so many times in the past. It is stunningly beautiful. The island itself is sparsely populated, but what really makes the area unique is the miles and miles of uninhabited shoreline and nature preserver along the Nisqually River Delta and the Fort Lewis Property between the Delta and Ketron island. There is lots of wildlife and we saw one small sailboat out the entire weekend. Heavenly!

The view out the Pilothouse Windows of N47 Sea Eagle

The view out the Pilothouse Windows of N47 Sea Eagle

Another big bonus for the weekend is we stopped to fill up the fuel tanks and Diesel was only $2.64 per gallon. Our annual fuel cost dropped from $2000 to less than $1000 this year!

The only boat we saw over the course of the entire weekend at Oro Bay

The only boat we saw over the course of the entire weekend at Oro Bay