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Dungeness Spit

Headlands of Washington (state)Landforms of Clallam County, WashingtonSpits of the United States
Dungeness Spit
Dungeness Spit

Dungeness Spit is a sand spit jutting out approximately 5 miles (8 km) from the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula in northeastern Clallam County, Washington into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is the longest natural sand spit in the United States. The spit is growing in length by about 15 feet (4.6 m) per year. The body of water it encloses is called Dungeness Bay.The Dungeness Spit is entirely within the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and home of the New Dungeness Lighthouse. Its land area, according to the United States Census Bureau, is 1,271,454 square meters (0.4909 sq mi, or 314.18 acres). The lighthouse once was run by United States Coast Guard, but in 1976 the agency installed an automatic light. Since 1994 the lighthouse has been staffed and maintained by the volunteer "New Dungeness Light Station Association". The spit is open to the public year around. The spit has a campground and "Dungeness Recreation Area" that is also open year-round. The campground features a 1-mile long scenic bluff trail, several miles of hiking/biking trails, and a designated equestrian trail. The spit was first recorded by Europeans during the Spanish 1790 Quimper expedition. British explorer George Vancouver named the landform in 1792, writing "The low sandy point of land, which from its great resemblance to Dungeness in the British Channel, I called New Dungeness." He named it after the Dungeness headland in England. In December 2001 a heavy winter storm forced water over the spit. The next morning the spit was split in three places, and vehicles supplying the lighthouse were not able to traverse the spit for about a month.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Dungeness Spit (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 48.168604 ° E -123.1394 °
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Clallam County



Washington, United States
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Dungeness Spit
Dungeness Spit
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Dungeness School
Dungeness School

The Dungeness School is a historical schoolhouse building located at 657 Towne Road in Dungeness, Washington. The idea for the school was formed in 1892 by the settlers of the Dungeness area. On May 10, 1892 a meeting was held in which settlers created a bond for land and a two-story school house. In August 1892, the Dungeness Beacon reported that the contract for construction was awarded to Hall and Duncan for $1,673. The school house opened on February 27, 1893. The school originally had 73 students from the ages of 5 to 20. The school had one teacher who lived on the second floor of the school. Classes were large and books and supplies not easy to get. School Board minutes of April 8, 1895, show a motion was passed to buy the school a bottle of ink.In 1955, the Dungeness and Sequim School Districts were consolidated, and the old Dungeness School was closed. In 1967 the Dungeness Community Club purchased the land and the building from the Sequim School District. The Dungeness School was designated a Washington State Historical Site in 1971. On May 19, 1988, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1995, faced with rising maintenance costs, the schoolhouse was donated to the local museum and is now operated as a division of the Sequim Museum & Arts.The original building was 36 feet by 48 feet, and then in 1921 a second wing was constructed. A USGS datum point was placed on the southeast corner of the building in 1929. In 2008 the Schoolhouse Belfry along with the original school bell was restored.