Peninsula Daily News
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PORT ANGELES — The historic Rosemary Inn along Lake Crescent, now the home of NatureBridge in Olympic National Park, is celebrating its centennial this year.
On Saturday, NatureBridge and the park will hold an open house from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Visitors will have the chance to tour the inn, play croquet, paddle on Lake Crescent; press apples; view displays and artifacts from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
There will be time to tell stories about the inn from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Saturday’s open house is free, and plenty of parking is available.
Located about 25 minutes west of Port Angeles, NatureBridge/Rosemary Inn lies at the center of Barnes Point, near Lake Crescent Lodge.
There is a main lodge, 14 guest cabins and assorted out-buildings. No park admission fee is required to access the area.
Opened in 1914
The inn, first called “Rosemary Camp,” was named for Rose Littleton and her lifelong assistant, Mary Daum.
The first visitor, according to the register, checked in more than 100 years ago on June 20, 1914.
During President Franklin D. Roosevelt visit to the Olympic Peninsula in 1937, the inn hosted him for breakfast.
It became part of the park in 1944 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
A major restoration was completed in the 1990s, allowing the historic resort to be re-purposed as the home of NatureBridge, a residential educational nonprofit that provides hands-on environmental science programs for children and teens.
The camp was carved out of the dense forest when it opened in June 1914.
Guests arrived by crossing Lake Crescent by ferry.
John Daum, brother of Mary Daum, designed and constructed the buildings that made up the Rosemary Inn complex.
While not an architect, John Daum was a devotee of the Craftsman age.
Because of the site’s remoteness, he used materials available nearby, primarily cedar and fir.
