PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Historical Society’s executive director is retiring at the end of the month.
Since 2002, Bill Tennent, 70, has been the force behind many events that have become woven into the fabric of Port Townsend: First Night, the renovation of historic City Hall at 540 Water St. — where the historical society has its offices — and the creation of Walking Tours around the city.
He promises to continue to be involved with the museum as a volunteer and tour guide.
The historical society board has hired a replacement to come on board in June. The board has not announced her name but said she is from Seattle.
Tennent’s focus over the last 16 years has been to make the historical society and its museum — now named the Jefferson Museum of Art & History — and its programs relevant to people today.
“History doesn’t live in the past. People have to relate to what’s in the museum, and it’s up to us to show how it ties into their life,” Tennent said.
“When we had the 2018 Women’s March in January, we were out collecting posters to make it part of a collection because that was one of the biggest events that had ever taken place in Port Townsend,” Tennent said.
”We searched out and got the big banner that was carried during the march in Seattle by our residents.”
The historical society’s most popular programs were done in the ’60s and ’70s, he said.
“When we did Tales of the Town Tavern, over 200 people were lined up to tell their stories about that time period,” Tennent said.
“Then we did the Ace of Cups, the story of the first coffeehouse on the (North Olympic) Peninsula and the first espresso machine. That’s where all the writers, artists and poets used to hang out and we had a huge crowd for that.”
History has influenced and touched Tennent’s personal life in unusual ways.
“When I was a kid, my family’s idea of a vacation was to get into a camper trailer and trek through the desert to the Southwest and look at Indian ruins,” Tennent recalled.
“Other kids got to go to some mythical place called the beach, wherever that was. Or to Disneyland. We went to the desert and national parks. That’s where I got my initial interest in history.”
Tennent was one of the first two graduates from Utah State University in the master’s program of museum studies. He said there were very few programs then, but today practically every university has one.
“At that time, my professors were very eager to show that the program was needed and could be successful so they put their efforts into making sure the two of us got employed when we graduated,” he said.
His first full-time paid job was with the Museum of Western Colorado, where he worked for a decade.
“My second job was on an island in the Caribbean where I was, for nine years, deputy director of the Cayman Islands National Museum,” Tennent said.
”It was a wonderful experience. It’s Americanized enough so Americans feel comfortable there, yet it is Caribbean enough so you are aware you are in a unique place. I tell everyone I had a Cayman Island bank account.”
Tennent had an memorable encounter with royalty during his tenure.
“When Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited the Islands in 1994, I was their personal guide,” he said. “I practiced with a fake queen before the real one arrived. We had to spruce up the island — no derelict vehicles, fences were painted, flowers were planted. It was all neat and tidy.”
The queen visited the museum to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Wreck of the Ten Sail, a maritime navigation disaster that wrecked 10 British ships on the Cayman reefs.
“The queen came to see our exhibit and asked me big broad questions,” Tennent said. “You can’t initiate a conversation with her. Prince Philip asked questions, too. Along with two attendants, they spent about half an hour. “
During the exchange, the prince asked Tennent if all Caymanians were descended from pirates. He replied that wasn’t true and that they were British settlers and African slaves.
A few weeks after the royal Caribbean tour, the Minister of Culture called to say that The Sun newspaper and Hello! magazine ran stories that suggested “Prince Philip put his foot in his mouth and called all islanders pirates.”
The articles said, “Tennent, the deputy director of the national museum, set him straight.”
“That wasn’t the way it went,” he laughed. “That was one of my highlights.”
After the Caymans, he spent two years at the Davenport House Museum in Savannah, an 1820 Federal-style mansion on Columbia Square. For fun, he sent out his resume and went on vacation.
“When I came here, I was actually on a road trip. My goal was to do Route 66 from Chicago to California. Eventually I did, but by the time I reached Chicago, I got a phone call from Port Townsend. We did a phone interview,” he said.
“Then I did Route 66 which took about a week. I got a chance to see the roadside attractions, the old diners, the old motels… such a cool part of Americana.”
He’s been here for 16 years, the longest in any one place.
Tennent and his girlfriend, who he referred to only as Kitty, plan to take longer road trips, with a historical focus.
“We are planning a Civil Rights road trip, to start in Alabama and work our way to the Susan B. Anthony House and the Women’s Rights Movement in New York. There’s a Frank Lloyd Wright road trip in the works, as well as an art deco and craftsman architecture tour.”
He says that whenever he travels, he always comes home and never feels like he’s settling for second best.
“When we come in to town driving down Sims Way, we always say, ‘What lucky people live in this town!’”
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Jeannie McMacken can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jmcmacken@peninsuladailynews.com.
