Woodley Island

Eureka City

Woodley Island has restaurants and a marina and lots of park space and the Fisherman Memorial and, most importantly, the lighthouse that once stood on Table Bluff and I'd never actually stopped at it. I drove past NOAA right to the end and had a look around.

The holiday decorations were still up among the picnic tables.

The bridge across the bay forms long, graceful arches of concrete.

The homes across the way are delightful. All have docks since there is no other way onto the island.

There is a rock stating the island, called Indian or Gunther or Tolowat, is a site that "possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America" while pointedly not saying anything about that history. It was a massacre that was a particularly horrible part of attempted genocide. The periods of significance also list the centuries of people living on the island, so perhaps it signifies more than the massacre of natives by brutal, axe wielding white men. I wasn't feeling that things were getting remembered by simply stating that history that should be remembered happened. Now most of the island has been returned to the Wiyot.

Lazy sailboats float around the bay in the light, but steady, breeze.

The Fisherman Memorial.

The Carson Mansion, visited in the last walk, seems very close at hand across the marina and bay.

A little bit of snow can be seen on the little bit of mountains sticking up behind the shorter, nearer mountains.

Steep steps are visible through the windows of the Table Bluff lighthouse.

I felt like my prior visits to the bluff top where the lighthouse worked were missing something. It's quite a striking little building.

Less striking from the side without the pretty windows.

©2022 Valerie Norton
Written 16 Jan 2022