FridayĪs Cheong prescribes, the most perfect day always starts off with a good night’s sleep and a delicious breakfast. Unlike San Juan Island with its resorts, Whidbey Island features mostly quaint inns, cozy bed and breakfasts, and remote cabins on Airbnb, offering a nature-filled, immersive experience.īelow, a recommended 72-hour itinerary for Whidbey Island, with tips from the crew behind Captain Whidbey. Similar to these other communities experiencing a comeback of sorts among young, stylish travelers, Whidbey Island has a history of drawing creatives: It’s currently home to a mix of artists, craftspeople, farmers, sea captains, and naval air station staff. The parallels between Whidbey Island and places like Joshua Tree don’t end at just physical proximity to major metropolitan areas. Ferries between Seattle and Whidbey run every half hour on the south side of Whidbey, or for those really in a rush to get away, direct 20-minute charter flights from Seattle are also available (at $139 per person each way on Lynk Air). About a two-hour, scenic drive from Seattle, it’s around the same distance from the city as Joshua Tree is to Los Angeles, or the Catskills are from New York. Whidbey Island is the largest island in the state of Washington, and it’s long been a destination in part because of its relative accessibility. Photo: Courtesy of Captain Whidbey Photo: Courtesy of Captain Whidbey You could never build this out.”Īn archival postcard of the Captain Whidbey Inn. The greatest benefit of a historic property is that you get something that you never would recreate. “This place, it’s creaky, it’s imperfect, it’s crooked. “The rustic nature and the bad cell phone service, all those kinds of things are really a bonus, actually,” says Cheong. Inside, original pine wood paneling is combined with warm, primary colors, cashmere carpet, locally-woven blankets and cedar-scented bath products by Seattle-based brands. He names the works of Rudolph Schindler and Mira Nakashima as inspirations for the Inn’s rooms, which range from nautical log cabin rooms at the main lodge to Scandinavian-inspired, modern spaces at the lagoon-side wood cottages, to complete cabin takeovers by Filson, Glasswing, We The Nomads and Edit Whidbey. To stay true to the history of Captain Whidbey, Cheong also worked with local archives to identify and keep historic photos and meaningful furniture at Captain Whidbey, adding that every family who has ever owned the property still lives on the island.
Guests are encouraged to leave their phones behind in their rooms, take off their shoes, and hang out in the Kate Towers custom-designed robes around the property.
The flow of locals who continue to come onto the property to eat at the restaurant or sit on the swings by the lagoon are a testament to how Captain Whidbey remains a familiar fixture with a comforting lack of pretension. Stepping into the Captain Whidbey does feel like entering another (highly curated) era, a return to the slower days of summer camp. Soon after the brothers bought the property, they began a careful update, enlisting the talents of Eric Cheong, an architect and interior designer whose resume includes years at Atelier Ace and Roman and Williams.Īn archival photo of the main lodge at the Captain Whidbey Inn, which dates back to 1907. According to the French brothers, the property had its heyday in the ‘70s, but faded in the last decade or so. After he and his brother Mike French had renovated an old Joshua Tree motel three years ago, Matt had a hunch that they would be able to repeat their success in the Seattle area.Ĭaptain Whidbey seemed like the perfect project, with a history dating back to 1907, six acres of waterfront location, a lagoon, and charming wooden log cabins. “I literally Google searched every hotel that was within two hours driving distance ,” said co-owner Matt French.
Sunset on the dock Photo: April Nemeth / Courtesy of Captain Whidbeyįinding Captain Whidbey Inn, a historic inn on the shores of Penn Cove outside of Seattle, began as most discoveries do nowadays: with a Google search.
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