Turns out you were right the first time. I’m recently returned from the Olympic National Forest, where I drove past the town of Sappho. It was dark, and the station had burned down so we’d passed it before we had a chance to figure out where we might stop, but it was there on the map, and the people in the next town corroborated: Sappho, WA. Now, alas, just a fragment of its former self.

poetry, politics, collapse

Terreson

In the north of the Olympic Peninsula there is the unincorporated town of Sappho. It was established in around 1889 by a settler and his large family from Kansas. His name was Martin Van Buren Lamoreux. He came to Seattle, then he steamed to a Native American village on the Straights of Juan De Fuca called Pysht. Then he and his family hiked inland to make there claim. He called the town Sappho because he was an admirer of the poet’s verse.

Sappho is a junction between U.S. Hhwy 101 and State route 113. 113 leads north to the Straights. From there 101 leads east to Port Angeles and then to Port Townsend. To call Sappho a town is a larger claim than it deserves. When I was in the area in the 90s Sappho had a store and that is all. The building-site dates back to the twenties. It started out as a house with a gas pump in front. Then it morphed into a restaurant, mostly patronized by loggers. After logging in the area went bust it became a kind of general store for motorists and tourists travelling the coastal highway.

My job in those years took me up and down the Olympic Peninsula. And so I frequently passed through Sappho. One day, coming in on 101 and turning north onto 113 I saw the statue I had read about in a book on WA state, a geography book celebrating all the state’s early white settlements. And there she was, life size, behind the store. Sappho. Artist unknown, at least to me. I just remember I have a photo of the statue in a box somewhere.

An hour or so ago I googled Sappho, WA for the fun of it. Mapquest gives its location. Wikipedia has an entry devoted to it. Then I found a newspaper article telling me the store burned down in 2004; causes unknown. That is sad news. I am kind of hoping the statue still stands. I always romanced the notion of living in Sappho.

Terreson