Diamond Point is a community on the northeast tip of the Miller Peninsula at the entrance to Discovery Bay on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, about 44 miles (71 km) northwest of Seattle and 7.5 miles (12 km) west-southwest of Port Townsend, Washington. The Klallam Tribe historically had a village with a stockade at the point, and in the 1880s a quarantine station was located here. The land was commercially developed for residential property starting in the 1950s.
Before the arrival of Euro-Americans, the territory inhabited by the Klallam included the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula from the mouth of the Hoko River on the west to Discovery Bay on the east. Early European explorers did not enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca or make direct contact with the Klallam. Charles William Barkley was the first European known to have entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in 1787. Robert Gray reached Clallam Bay in 1789. From 1790 to 1792 the Spanish, based at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, made multiple expeditions into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Manuel Quimper reached Discovery Bay in 1790. In 1791 Francisco de Eliza led a small exploring fleet, which for a time based itself at Discovery Bay. George Vancouver made contact with the Klallam in 1792. He thought he was the first European to visit them and wrote about trading copper, knives, and minor trade goods.
In the 1800s, the U.S. government enacted laws to reduce the introduction of infectious diseases such as cholera, yellow fever, leprosy and smallpox on ships arriving from other countries. By the 1870s, specific procedures were in place and arriving vessels had to anchor at designated ports of entry and hoist a yellow quarantine flag to request an inspection. The designated port of entry for Puget Sound was Port Townsend. In 1893, Diamond Point became an official quarantine station and all ships entering Puget Sound had to stop at Diamond Point. Ships were fumigated for mosquitos that carried yellow fever, a well as rats for plague. In 1933, the facility at Diamond Point was declared unsuitable and a new station was built at Point Hudson. In 1936, Diamond Point was declared surplus and sold to private parties. Today, Diamond Point is a real estate development with a private airstrip. Read more here and here. Explore more of Diamond Point here:
