Like something lifted out of a fairy story, the Camfferman’s Artist’s Colony perched on a part of the property of their aunt, Helen Coe. Their eight studio cabins nestled in a veritable park of trees, lawn and flowers on the bank above the beach at the end of what is now Goodell Lane near the western city limits of Langley. Below the cabins the waters of Saratoga Passage caressed a secluded, sandy beach. Mt. Baker and its siblings in the snow-clad Cascade range rose in serene majesty in the distance. The property was adjacent to that of Elizabeth Strawbridge and to the property which was first settled by Jacob Anthes prior to his marriage.
Both Peter and Margaret Camfferman had studied art in Paris and for many years their studios were occupied by visiting artists from the mainland. Their colony also was the center of much of the cultural and artistic life of South Whidbey. When Peter’s health began to fail in 1940 the colony gradually deteriorated. It closed entirely at the time of his death in 1957.
Ron Childers, who is part owner of the Proctor-Childers Art Gallery in Langley in 1986, was personally acquainted with Peter and Margaret and now owns a portion of the original Camfferman property. He recalls that Margaret lost interest in life after her husband’s death and became a recluse. When she died relatives dismantled the studios and took most of the paintings and other art work back east.