Point Partridge is the most westerly point of

Whidbey Island Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington State. (The other large island is Camano Island, ...

, the largest

island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected m ...

. The point lies north of the Fort Ebey military reservation and south of

West Beach West Beach may refer to: ;Australia * West Beach, South Australia *West Beach, Western Australia ;United States *West Beach (Santa Barbara), California *West Beach, Beverly, Massachusetts ;South Africa *West Beach, Western Cape West or Occide ...

. The primary importance of Point Partridge is as the northern and eastern reference point for the dividing line between Puget Sound and 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 outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

. The other reference is

Point Wilson Point Wilson is at the end of the Quimper Peninsula, a northeast extension of the Olympic Peninsula and the northeasternmost point of Jefferson County, Washington, United States, approximately two miles north of the Port Townsend business district ...

. The origin of the name is not known for certain. According to G.H. Anderson, the point was named by

George Vancouver Post-captain, Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his Vancouver Expedition, 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Un ...

in 1792, to honor the family of Vancouver's sister-in-law, Martha Partridge, the daughter of Henry Partridge. The Spanish explorer

Manuel Quimper Manuel Quimper Benítez del Pino (c. 1757 – April 2, 1844) was a Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official. He participated in charting the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Sandwich Islands in the late 18th ...

had named the point two years before Vancouver, calling it "Menendez".

References

Partridge A partridge is a medium-sized galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They are sometimes grouped in the Perdic ...

Landforms of Island County, Washington Landforms of Puget Sound {{IslandCountyWA-geo-stub