Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce Destination ... - Keep Trees

Hansville
Located at the northernmost tip of the Kitsap Peninsula is the town of
Hansville, Washington. Just ten miles from Kingston, Hansville is home to the Point No Point Lighthouse, a Nature
Conservancy Reserve, three county parks and an extensive forest and beach trail system.
Originally, the area was referred to as Point No Point. In 1841 Commander Charles Wilkes of the US Exploring
Expedition came upon a sandy spit, thinking it a point of land. Upon closer inspection, the spit was much smaller
than it looked and there was no “point” to speak of. He named it Point No Point. The S’Klallam Tribe called the spit
of land Hahdskus, translating to “Long Nose”. As Seattle and Tacoma grew and marine traffic increased, so did the
occurrence of marine calamities, making it necessary to construct light stations along Admiralty Inlet and Puget
Sound. In 1879 construction was begun on the Point No Point Lighthouse and on January 1, 1880 it officially
went into service. However, the lens for the light hadn’t yet arrived so the first light keeper, Mr. J.S. Maggs, hung a
kerosene lantern in the tower and lit the way for ships until the lens arrived.
About the same time, the area started to
see the arrival of settlers, mostly Norwegian,
Swedish, and Finnish immigrants. Upon their
arrival they began fishing, farming and logging.
Two such settlers were Norwegians Hans
Zachariasen and Anton Husby. Hans and Anton
were fishermen and would catch herring and sell
it as bait to the commercial fishermen heading
out to the fishing grounds in the Strait and
beyond. They also ran a ferry service with their
boats, from the steamers offshore to the beach,
there being no dock built yet. As legend has it,
Anton was a temperate man who would refuse
to ferry anyone who had been imbibing. Upon
learning that, one Scandinavian man remarked
to his friend “Vell, how vill dey get ashore if Anton
von’t ferry dem? “ “Oh don’t vorry”, said the friend,
“If Anton von’t, Hans vill.” And thus the town is
called Hansville.
In the late 1920s and early1930s people began
to buy land on the waterfront and build summer
cabins and fishing resorts. Point No Point was a
premier salmon fishing destination with as many
as seven resorts at one time lining the beach.
Vestiges of long docks and rails to the water still
can be seen at low tide.
Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce 12 Destination Guide and Membership Directory 2009