Chuckanut Drive

The state park system began beside this road. In 1913 Governor Ernest Lister asked Charles Larrabee, a Bellingham magnate who had backed the drive, to give land along it for the comfort of motorists. Larrabee died the next year, and in October 1915 his widow Frances deeded about twenty acres, opened to coincide with the drive's dedication. That November it became Washington's first state park. It was called Chuckanut State Park until 1923, when it took the family's name, though Frances said her husband would not have wanted it.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Deception Pass — 17 mi
  A tide race between Whidbey and Fidalgo islands that fooled George Vancouver, and the 1935 bridge that finally tied Whidbey to the mainland.

More markers nearby

• Deception Pass — 17 mi
• Mount Baker — 29 mi