Agate Pass or Agate Passage is a high-current

tidal strait A tidal strait is a strait through which a tidal current flows. Tidal currents are usually unidirectional but sometimes are bidirectional. Tidal straits, though they are narrow seaways, are technically not rivers. They are frequently of tectonic ...

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

connecting Port Madison and mainland

Kitsap County Kitsap County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 275,611. Its county seat is Port Orchard, Washington, Port Orchard; its ...

in the US state of Washington. It lies between Bainbridge Island and the mainland of the Kitsap Peninsula near Suquamish. It leads south towards Bremerton, extending about one mile (1.6 km) in a straight, southwesterly direction. The depth is about . The shores are wooded and fairly steep. The shoreline is mostly rocky and fringed with

kelp Kelps are large brown algae or seaweeds that make up the order (biology), order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genus, genera. Despite its appearance and use of photosynthesis in chloroplasts, kelp is technically not a plant but a str ...

to Point Bolin. The tidal currents have velocities up to six knots; the

flood tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

sets southwesterly, and the

ebb tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide ...

northeasterly. The traditional winter village of the Suquamish people was located on Agate Pass. It was the site of Old Man House, the largest longhouse on

, and is the location of Haleets, a petroglyph. Agate Pass was unknown to non-native people until it was discovered by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841. Before then, Europeans thought Bainbridge Island was a peninsula. It was named by U.S. Navy Lt.

Charles Wilkes Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and List of explorers, explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865 ...

in honor of one of the members of the expedition, Alfred Thomas Agate. In 1950, a fixed highway bridge, the Agate Pass Bridge was built, connecting Bainbridge Island to the Kitsap Peninsula for the first time. The bridge is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

External links

Junius Rochester, "Wilkes, Charles (1798-1877)"
Essay 5226, 17 February 2003, History Link website
"Agate Pass Bridge"
History Link website Straits of Washington (state) Landforms of Puget Sound Bainbridge Island, Washington Straits of Kitsap County, Washington {{KitsapCountyWA-geo-stub /* External links */