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Throughout Fairhaven’s history, the name “Dead Man’s Point” or “Deadman’s Point” emerges as a curious footnote. It refers to a hill that became one of Fairhaven’s vanished landmarks by its leveling in the early twentieth century. Why the morbid name? The answer may lie in Fairhaven’s origins: either an undocumented first contact or the town founding.

Coast Salish people historically used the Padden Creek inlet for hunting, fishing, and foraging over thousands of years. Fairhaven historic markers note not only ancient camps (“1500 B.C.”) in the vicinity but “Legend: Spanish Massacred Here in 1600s.” This marker near the Interurban Trail has prompted confusion: Did Spanish contact occur here over 100 years before the 1792 Vancouver expedition?

While shrouded in legend, the area’s history and name origins echo a haunted past that never quite stays dead.

Nobody Expects the ‘Spanish Massacre

The “Spanish Massacre” marker sources back to turn-of-the-twentieth-century newspaper articles. A 1936 Bellingham Herald article attributes the story to Lummi oral tradition, dating it to “several years before Vancouver’s flagship poked its nose through the waters of the North Pacific.” This timeline more closely matches known Spanish fortifications at Nootka Island and Neah Bay.

The article details how 400 Spanish marauders in galleons died in the battle with a thousandfold confederation of Coast Salish and other Puget Sound tribes led by the Nisqually. Supposedly the Spanish established an inlet fortification that became their tomb.

The Fairhaven historic markers noting the “Spanish Massacre” are among the oldest in the series, crumbling but still legible on the trails along Padden Creek. The “1600s” date may erroneously refer to the date reportedly engraved on the “Spanish Chalice.” Photo credit: Anna Diehl

The Fourth Corner by Lelah Jackson Edson reiterates this account, adding, “For years the outlines of the old fortifications were plainly visible, as were burial grounds from which many skeletons were exhumed, and proven by experts to be the remains of Spanish Cavaliers.” Befitting the name “Dead Man’s Point,” the 1936 article describes “Spanish pirates” — which may explain the event’s lack of documentation, if true.

Another marker, “Spanish Chalice Dated 1640 Found Here,” may explain the “1600s” discrepancy. A 1908 Bellingham Herald article titled “Bellingham Man Digs Up Spanish Urn, 1630” attributes the find to one Leigh L. Rose unearthing it in his backyard. The article calls this “proof of the fact that Spanish galleons visited this shore hundreds of years ago” and notes previous discoveries of “plates from the vessels’ sides and skeletons, pronounced to be those of Spaniards.”

The leveling of Dead Man’s Point took years, with numerous Bellingham Herald articles documenting the process from 1890 to 1919. Photo courtesy Whatcom Museum

A 1919 Bellingham Herald article, “Deadman’s Point is Now Nothing But Memory,” states that “various finds were reported over the years including indigenous remains mentioned here, and Spanish artifacts (a chalice said to bear the date of 1640). Where any of these ended up is unknown.” While this article accounts for the alternate date given for the chalice, and the timeline confusion if only the artifact dates to the 1600s, it confirms also how the alleged proof is lost to legend.

Poe’s Point, Graveyard Point, Commercial Point

The hill gained numerous nicknames from the 1850s until its leveling by 1919. A 1903 article republished in the Skagit River Journal states that “during the glamour of the boom of 1889 [the area] became famous as Dead Man’s Point, so called as a mark of disrespect by zealous Whatcomites, who already recognized in what the Indians called Seeseeleechem, ‘a place of safety,’ the lusty embryo of a formidable rival.” The English name “Fairhaven” may reference this word.

The Marine Park shelter offers historical signage, with a timeline of the area from Alonzo Poe’s claim in 1853 to the present. Photo credit: Anna Diehl

The name “Poe’s Point” originates with Alonzo Poe, who built a cabin there before Dirty Dan Harris purchased 43 acres in 1858. Other sources attribute the “Dead Man’s Point” name to an 1857 raid where two lookouts died.

The land became “Graveyard Point” when Dirty Dan Harris sold portions for a county cemetery. In 1889, the county reinterred 64 bodies into Bayview Cemetery.

Island Histories recounts how “General Pickett ensured his wife was the first indigenous woman to be put to rest in the “white” cemetery which would have caused a public outcry at the time. Her grave has been lost to time as Dead Man’s Point became overgrown with vegetation and the wooden grave markers disintegrated and vanished.” George Pickett, notorious locally for Pickett House and nationally for Pickett’s Charge in the Civil War, joined the Confederacy despite serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Bellingham — where he intended to counter raids from nearby tribes despite also marrying a Haida woman.

The name “Commercial Point” emerged as demolition starting in 1890 made way for the Great Northern Railway and Pacific American Fisheries cannery. Bellingham Herald articles up to 1919 describe bodies and coffins from the former cemetery washing up or unearthed, and indigenous remains including skulls “almost flat from the forehead back.”

Today, Marine Park is a popular location for beach access, picnics, and birdwatching. Photo credit: Anna Diehl

Beyond the Dead

Present-day Marine Park stands at the former site of the landmass, with historical signage describing Poe’s Point and a timeline of events. It started in 1971 after the Port of Bellingham purchased P.A.F. land in 1966.

Over 100 years since the documented reports of artifacts, the mystery remains. As another Herald article describes: “There is a spirit of activity at that end of the bay. There is a rattling of dry bones, as it were, and nature’s monument, an irregular mix of soil, sand gravel and rock. The hum of the wheels of industry will take the place of the sound of the waves swishing against the shore.”

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