Notice hand-split shakes used as barn siding in the top photo.
Edward Oliver and Thomas John Johns had scarcely established themselves on the Deer Lagoon side of Double Bluff when they acquired a new neighbor, Nathaniel Porter. In 1859, Porter took over the financially distressed property which had been homesteaded by Raphael Brunns in 1853, established a home on it, started a farm and settled down to the business of raising crops and a family.
Porter’s story is a colorful one. He was born in Boston in 1840 to Hasdiak and Margaret Ellemoor Porter and at the tender age of ten he left home and went to sea. For several years he roamed the world as a seaman, serving on vessels which included the schooner Vine, the brig Mickman, the bark Elizabeth, and the sailing ship Russell, visiting ports in exotic places such as India, the West Indies and Europe.
Baling hay on Porter farm.
Somewhere in his career he left the sea and served a stint as a cavalryman. While in the army, he was involved in a street brawl in San Francisco where he was shot in the leg and spent a year in that city, recovering, according to recollections of his grandson, Robert Porter of Langley. Considerably subdued by the accident, he started north seeking a place to settle down. On the outskirts of Port Ludlow he found a tract of virgin timber land upon which he took out homestead rights. He scarcely had time to settle upon his claim when he found that it was greatly desired by the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Company (later to become Pope and Talbot).
The timber company had been involved in the foreclosure proceedings on the Brunns property on Mutiny Bay and had acquired title to it but had little use for it as it already had been logged off. They made young Nathaniel an offer to trade their Brunns property at Mutiny Bay for his Port Ludlow timber land, sweetening their offer with a sizeable amount of money in addition. Thus it came about that an ex-seaman, barely out of his teens, became the owner of one of the most beautiful tracts of low bank waterfront and backlands on South Whidbey. The property is now owned by Emil Gabelein, whose parents also were South Whidbey pioneers, arriving here about 1900.
The above photos show the original Porter house and a portion of the fence enclosing the farmyard.
When the transaction was completed Porter had both land and money but no house in which to live, a condition he rectified by ferrying a cabin from Port Townsend to Mutiny Bay on a scow.
He now had land, money and a house so his next step was to take a wife, believed to have been a young woman whose name was Tidwell. Descendants say there were at least two children, Asa and Florence, born of this union. As time passed Nathaniel Porter prospered and continued to acquire more land until, according to unconfirmed reports, his holdings were about one thousand acres stretching from Mutiny Bay to Holmes Harbor.
The lower photo of the family group on the beach shows a road running along the beach.
At some time during this period his wife died and, on May 15, 1889, he married Louisa Johnson, daughter of the ill-fated William Johnson, and Gah-toh-litsa, or Jane Johnson Oliver. They became the parents of eight children, Leo, Blanche, Florence, Lena, Omer, Joe, William and Delight. Many of their descendants still live on South Whidbey and are leaders in the community. Nathaniel and several of his family are buried in graves on the Mutiny Bay property in the present orchard, according to his grandchildren. The original cabin which he brought from Port Townsend remained on the property until 1974 when it was torn down.