Cape Flattery () is the northwesternmost point of the

contiguous United States The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...

. It is in Clallam County, Washington on the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large peninsula in Western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

, where the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The Canada–United States border, international boundary between Canada and the ...

joins the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. It is also part of the Makah Reservation, and is the northern boundary of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Cape Flattery can be reached from a short hike, most of which is boardwalked. Cape Flattery Trail, with photographs. The westernmost point in the contiguous United States is at Cape Alava, south of Cape Flattery in

Olympic National Park Olympic National Park is a national park of the United States located in Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier e ...

. However, the westernmost tip of Cape Flattery is almost exactly as far west as Cape Alava, the difference being approximately 5 seconds of longitude, about , at high tide and somewhat more at low tide. The Cape Flattery Lighthouse is on

Tatoosh Island Tatoosh Island is a small island and small group of islands about offshore (northwest) of Cape Flattery, which is on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Tatoosh is the largest of a small group of islands also often ...

, just off the cape. Makah Bay and Neah Bay are on either side of the cape.

Neah Bay, Washington Neah Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Makah Reservation in Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 935 at the 2020 census. It is across the Canada–US border from British Columbia. Europeans originally call ...

is the closest town to the cape.

History

James Cook

Cape Flattery is the oldest non-Native permanently named feature in Washington state, being described and named by

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

on March 22, 1778. Cook wrote: "... there appeared to be a small opening which flattered us with the hopes of finding an harbour ... On this account I called the point of land to the north of it Cape Flattery."

Japanese castaways in 1834

In 1834, the first Japanese persons (Iwakichi, Kyukichi, and Otokichi, or Three Kichis) known to have set foot on what is now Washington state arrived in a dismasted, rudderless ship that ran aground near Cape Flattery. The three survivors of the broken ship were enslaved by the local Makah people. When William H. McNeill learned about them, he took them to British authorities at

Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was a 19th-century fur trading post built in the winter of 1824–1825. It was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was ...

, under orders from John McLoughlin of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

which controlled the site. An American attempt to repatriate them to Japan would fail in the 1837 ''Morrison'' incident. A Monument to the Three Kichis was built in Vancouver in 1989.

Fuca Pillar

Fuca Pillar is a tall, almost rectangular, rock on the west side of Cape Flattery. It is named after Juan de Fuca, a Greek sailor who explored for Spain. Fuca has a doubtful claim to being the first European explorer to see the Fuca Pillar and to explore the

, also named after him. The first generally accepted mention of the pillar was by John Meares in 1788.

In popular culture

Movies

Cape Flattery Washington was the hometown of the fictional characters Ma and Pa Kettle from the " Ma and Pa Kettle" movie series.

Literature

*The children's novel ''Ghost Canoe'' (1998) by Will Hobbs is set on Tatoosh Island and Neah Bay in 1874. *Parts of the young adult novel ''

Freaky Green Eyes ''Freaky Green Eyes'' (2003) is the third young adult fiction novel written by Joyce Carol Oates. The story follows the life of 15-year-old Francesca "Franky" Pierson as she reflects on the events leading to her mother's mysterious disappearance ...

'' (2003) by

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

are set here in present day. *The novel ''When Wolf Comes'' (2009) by John Pappas is set in Cape Flattery in 1801. *D.G. Driver's novel ''Echo of the Cliffs'' (2017), the third in the young adult trilogy of the Juniper Sawfeather series of novels, has parts that take place at Cape Flattery and Fuca Pillar.

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Landforms of Clallam County, Washington

Flattery Flattery, also called adulation or blandishment, is the act of giving excessive compliments, generally for the purpose of Ingratiation, ingratiating oneself with the subject. It is also used in pick-up lines when attempting to initiate sexual or ...