Whidbey Island Trivia, Did you know that...??
As I build this website, I am constantly finding Whidbey Island trivia, sometimes interesting, sometimes obscure. And since this site is all about Whidbey Island, commonsense told me that we should have a page named Whidbey Island Trivia. So, here it is. As we discover more facts and Whidbey Island trivia, we will add them to this page, so they will all be in one spot, ready for you to look up, or use to stump your friends. And if you know some interesting trivia or fact, please forward it on to us to add to this page. You can click on the "Contact Us" button to the left, or click on the blue trimmed box at the bottom of every page. So here we go.... 1. Whidbey Island was named after Joseph Whidbey, master of the ship "Discovery" which was one of the ships of the Vancouver Expedition of 1790-1792. 2. Puget Sound was named after Peter Puget, a lieutenant onboard the "Discovery". 3. The town of Coupeville was named after Captain Thomas Coupe, who was the first sea captain to settle in the area. He is also the only captain to date to sail a fully rigged ship through Deception Pass. 4. The latitude of the island is 48.292N. The longitude is -122.675W. 5. The island was the filming location for... a. War of the Roses, 1989 6. Island County is made up of nine islands: Whidbey, Camano, Baby (or Hackney), Ben Ure, Deception, Kalamut, Minor, Smith, and Strawberry. 7. The length of the island varies between 36 and 62 miles, and the width varies from 1.5 to 12 miles, depending on the source of the measurement. This makes Whidbey either the 2nd or 3rd longest island in the continental US. 8. The area of Whidbey Island is 168.67 square miles, making it the third largest in the contiguous US. Long Island, New York is first, and Isle Royale, Michigan is second. 9. Ebey's Landing was the first National Historic Reserve in the country. 10.There are five state parks on the island a. Joseph Whidbey State Park 11. The most visited state park in Washington is Deception Pass State Park. 12. The official island motto is "Do Nothing Here." 13. There are three school districts, Oak Harbor, Coupeville, and South Whidbey. 14. There is no charge for the public bus system. It is paid for via 6/10 of 1% of county sales tax. 15. State Routes 525/20 is the only nationally designated "Scenic Byway" on an island. Its known as the "Whidbey Island Scenic Isle Way". 16. Coupeville is the 3rd oldest incorporated city in the state. 17. "Whidbey" was the codename for Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005 software development. Several of Bill's friends and colleagues have houses on the island. 18. The largest known living North American octopus resides in Deception Pass. 19. Whidbey Island is one of the very few islands in the world to have freshwater lakes. 20. I am still searching for more....
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