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| Today we did a little tour of the town of Poulsbo,
Washington. As you know this is where our son, Brian, lives with
his wife Tami and son, Chris. Poulsbo is a town founded by Norwegian settlers in the late 1800’s and was meant to be named after the town of Paulsbo in Norway. Unfortunately, lacking a good word processor, they requested the Federal government to establish a post office in their new town and the “grantor” misread the handwritten “a” in the request as an “o” and the rest is history. Paulsbo becomes Poulsbo and remains so to this day. Many people will try to pronounce the town as “Pools Bow” or some such thing, but it’s pronounced “Pauls Bow.” Everybody got that?
Since the town was originally supposed to be named after a Norwegian village, Poulsbo decided to capitalize on their historical intent and have created a miniature “Norwegian” style downtown. As you can see in the pictures, the welcoming sign is in Norwegian (photo 1). You can also see representations of the Norwegian flag as decorations on the downtown streets and the architecture try’s to suggest a Norwegian feel. Since most of the folks who now live here, or visit, have never been to Norway, they believe this is “quaint” and it satisfies their stereotype of a Norwegian town (photos 2 & 3). In fact, the town I was raised in, Martinez, CA, had a chapter of the Sons of Italy since there was such a large Italian population there. Poulsbo has a Sons of Norway chapter and they have erected a statue to their Viking heritage right at the waters edge (photos 4 & 5). Also, at this end of town is a wooden walkway that allows pedestrians to walk around this end of the bay (photo 6). A major part of Poulsbo is its waterfront and marina. If you look on a map, you will notice that Poulsbo is located on “Liberty” Bay. This is a colorful place with a very patriotic name. That’s because in the late 50’s, the city fathers decided the original name of the bay, Dogfish Bay, was not attractive enough for the revitalized town image they were trying to create. Still, as with much of Washington, boats are much in evidence and boating in Washington is a very popular activity (photos 7, 8, 9, 10, & 11). I happened upon a nautical gift store with whirling sailboats and got a shot of that (photo 12). I’m the kind of guy they expect to buy this stuff. I have an obsession with boats. Somehow I restrained myself. Linda caught a picture of me in front of my favorite store in Poulsbo, the Cargohold, a nautical gift store, in which I must confess, I did buy something (photo 13).
Another part of the waterfront is the Marine Science Center that provides the local school children and other visitors with a view of the local marine life. Be sure to stop by if you’re in the neighborhood (photo 14). After on last shot of the downtown area (photo 15), we headed out to Island Park for a picture of the lake (photos 16 & 17). Poulsbo is actually two towns. There’s the old one I have shown you, which is the same one you usually see in their Chamber of Commerce literature, and a new one, kind of a strip mall look on the other side of the hill. It is in the newer part of town you will have to go if you want to go to a movie, buy a car, or get a Big Mac. One is not better or worse than the other, just different. One brings in tourists, which bring in revenue and the other serves the local population with services that are necessary to function. I don’t have any pictures of the newer, strip mall, Poulsbo. You have seen that town, just go outside and look at your own town. The Poulsbo we all like to remember is the Chamber of Commerce version of what we want a Norwegian town to be. Neat isn’t it? As we headed back into town from Island Lake, Linda was able to take a couple of quick shots of Poulsbo from the other side of Liberty Bay (photos 18, 19, & 20). We like this little town of Poulsbo, both parts of it, and we are going to miss it when we leave, but leave we must. Tomorrow, if all goes well, we will be in Astoria, Oregon.
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