Former beach dump yields treasure

PORT TOWNSEND — As we’re tromping down a beach on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Tim Blair stops suddenly and digs his fingers down into the sand. It’s almost as if he has a sixth sense for this sort of thing.

Out he pulls a small, frosted, translucent rock. It’s exactly what we’re out here on the beach for. It’s sea glass, a renewed piece of trash.

Glass Beach is tucked away near Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula, and according to Blair, it’s one of the best shorelines in Pacific Northwest for sea glass hunting. And he would know. Blair, of Port Orchard, has become a bit of an online authority on the topic over the last few years, as he’s developed a popular beachcombing website, PNWBeachcombing.com.

Up until the 1960s, Glass Beach was the site of a city dump, Blair says, which is why it’s such a good spot for glass hunting. The beach has since been cleaned off, but the waves keep digging up small glass fragments from decades ago, polishing them into beautiful gem-like pieces and depositing them on the shore.

The pieces are remnants of old beer bottles, medicine containers, auto glass and other refuse. As the waves work the glass over, they wear away jagged edges and form the frosted pieces the beach is known for, Blair says. Marbles, pottery and porcelain pieces can also wash up on shore, making the beach a beachcomber’s delight.

As Blair puts it, it’s “urban archeological exploration.”

Blair advises beachcombers to park at the North Beach lot at the end of Port Townsend’s Kuhn Street — which runs adjacent to Fort Worden State Park — and follow the beach west. The towering bluffs along the water mean this narrow, three-mile stretch of shoreline is your best route out to Glass Beach, Blair says.