The importance of being Eglon

Make no mistake, say residents of Eglon: their little community is not part of the Greater Hansville Area and never will be – if they have anything to say about it.

The recent outcry over Eglon’s autonomy began in June with a signpost placed on the west side of Hansville Road, at the intersection of Little Boston and Eglon roads. Reading “Welcome to the Greater Hansville Area,” the sign seems to mark the southern edge of the Hansville township. However, a sub-area plan submitted in 1990 to Kitsap County by the Eglon Improvement Club board of directors, states that Eglon’s boundaries overlap this area, extending from 360th Street (also known as Weaver’s Pass) on the north, to Sunrise Beach on the south, and includes land on the west of Hansville Road.

Eglon residents fear the sign may be the first step toward outside control of land-use decisions within their tight-knit community, as well as management of the beach property and boat launch now under the jurisdiction of the Port of Eglon.

“They’re trying to override what was planned years ago,” said longtime resident, Jacque Thornton. “Lots of small communities are disappearing. We don’t want to be Hansville; we’re Eglon.”

A small town with long roots

Though Eglon has seen an influx of new families over the last 30 years, it remains a small town with roots that go back more than 100 years. Community amenities include a church, meeting hall, cemetery, a fire truck (kept in one family’s garage), and the beach, where residents of Eglon still gather for bonfires and summer picnics just as they have for the last century.

Perhaps the oldest living Eglon native, Lisa Crabtree, was born in 1914, at a time when her hometown lacked not only doctors, but a road out. Her sister, Ruth Thorne, recorded Eglon’s past for “Kitsap County: a History” by the Kitsap Historical Society.

“Everything went in and out by boat,” remembered Crabtree. “Before the dock was built someone would have to row out to meet the boats. The boat from Seattle carried passengers and freight, and in the afternoon everyone went out to meet it. There was a little store and a post office by the dock. Lots of people had summer cabins here. There used to be wonderful fishing off Eglon. It’s always been a nice little community.”

Crabtree was 12 years old before it was possible to travel by car between Eglon and the rest of the county. Prior to that, there was a horse-and-buggy trail, though the community seems to have been more closely connected to Seattle and Edmonds owing to private boats and the old Mosquito Fleet ferry service. Life in Eglon revolved around the dock, from its construction in 1913 until it was torn down around World War II.

Summertime in

Silver Creek

Also born in Eglon, Alice Savage is the granddaughter of Adolphina Dannat, a homesteader who, along with her three sisters and their families, settled 40 acres on the Eglon shoreline at the turn of the century. Dannat opened her house to serve as the first Eglon school. Two of Savage’s other relatives, Elsie Johnson and daughter Maxine, each took a turn running the Eglon post office, which served the area from 1906 through the 1940s.

“It was pretty quiet growing up in Eglon in the ‘30s and ‘40s,” said Savage. “We rarely saw a car. Summer was great; it was terrible when it was over and we had to put our shoes back on and go back to school.”

As a young woman, Savage worked at Brockman’s, a fishing resort near the dock that rented boats, sold gas, and cooked breakfast for fishermen who came for the “tons of salmon.” There were so many salmon in Puget Sound in those days, said Savage, that the commercial fishing boats often gave away the smallest of their catch to the locals.

Prior to applying for a post office, Eglon was known as Silver Creek, named for Charles and Jesse Silver who, in 1861, homesteaded 160 acres, including the named creek which flows out by the Eglon boat launch.

Unfortunately, there was already a Silver Creek, Wash., so – according to “Kitsap County: a History” – the community was given a choice of three names, Eglon being the shortest. Biblically, Eglon was a villainous king of Moab, notorious for his corpulence and dying by evisceration. The other proposed names, as well as the name of the person responsible for suggesting them, are lost to history.

Names aside, the Eglon of today refuses to allow its identity to be either eviscerated or absorbed by anyone. If there’s one thing the little town is richer in than memories, it’s community pride.

“We don’t want to be swallowed up,” asserts Alice Savage.

Eglon School reunion

A reunion for those who attended Eglon School between 1922-1951 will be held 1-5 p.m. Aug. 10 at Eglon Beach. For more information, contact Sandi Birkeland Jackson, (360) 697-5820 or Donna Husby Svart Humle at (360) 598-4845.

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