History of F.W. Hastings House - Old Consulate Inn - Bed and Breakfast in Port Townsend, Washington, Olympic Peninsula

A Brief History of Port Townsend and the F.W. Hastings House - Old Consulate Inn

Port Townsend was established in the 1850's by Loren B. Hastings and a group of adventuresome settlers. His wife Lucinda was the first white woman to set foot in the territory. The city grew and prospered due in part to its perfect location at Admiralty Inlet, entrance to Puget Sound, and in part to the unsurpassed beauty of this region of the Olympic Peninsula. The railroad was coming to Port Townsend. The future of the city was secure. Port Townsend began to grow and dared to dream of becoming the New York City of the Pacific Northwest.

Then, in the early 1890's, with the population nearing the 7500 mark, the railroad made its decision to terminate in Seattle instead of Port Townsend. During the same time, the rest of the country entered into a period of financial depression. The dream had ended.

The intervening years took their toll. Many of the mansions on the bluff stood deserted or were turned into boarding houses or apartments. Port Townsend became just another small town in Washington. The wealth of Victorian architecture and beauty was forgotten or dismissed as no longer important.

But...in recent years a resurgence of interest in our heritage has brought a second chance, a breath of new life to these beautiful Victorians. Restoration in Port Townsend is everywhere.

"The Red Victorian on the Hill," as the Inn has become known, has kept her original color over the years. Trimmed in white, with black and greens as accent, she looks now as she must have looked over 100 years ago...a graceful, warm and friendly greeting from the town...her wide sweeping verandah overlooking the bay. White lawn chairs amidst flowering beds and birch trees, porch swings inviting.

Completed during the first few years of restoration, the grand staircase rises four floors from the billiard room to the Tower Suite. This painstakingly hand-crafted extension of the original staircase is built of red oak and is an exact replication of the original first flight.

During the Inn's tenure as the German Consulate the mansion's lower level was used to house German sailors who had escaped from work ships after being "shanghaied". These seamen were offered the protection of "foreign soil" where they could safely await passage home aboard a German National ship passing through. This lower level has now been converted into a billiard and game room.

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