Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment.
- R. Buckminster Fuller
Nature is just enough; but men and women must comprehend and accept her suggestions.
- Antoinette Brown Blackwell
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.
- Henry Ward Beecher
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
- Aristotle
The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.
- Zeno
A sense of curiosity is nature's original school of education.
- Smiley Blanton
Man must go back to nature for information.
- Thomas Paine
Nature never did betray. The heart that loved her.
- William Wordsworth
Nature's infinite book of secrecy. A little I can read.
- William Shakespeare
What is art? Nature concentrated.
- Honore de Balzac
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
- Antoine de Saint Exupery
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)/ it’s always ourselves we find in the sea.
- E.E. Cummings
Urban waterfronts are important and special assets that, when redeveloped, they often contribute to healthy traditional communities. Waterfronts can serve as a unifying force in a city or town and can be, and often are, a force for community enrichment. Further, vibrant communities are essential for environmental, economic and social advancement.
- The Waterfront Center
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.
- Frank Lloyd Wright
A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.
- Grace Hopper
Captain George Vancouver swooped into Puget Sound in 1792, naming a large northern bay in honor of Sir William Bellingham who contributed supplies for the trip.
The Whatcom Mill on Bellingham Bay, built by Henry Roeder and Russell Peabody, sliced into its first log in December 1852.
Chief Cha-wit-zit led Henry Roeder and Russell Peabody to a waterfall now known as Whatcom Falls.
William Prattle arrived in Bellingham in 1953 searching for coal. Working with information from the Lummi Tribe, he found coal and founded the Sehome Mine.
U.S. Army Captain George Pickett showed up at Bellingham Bay on August 26, 1856 to build a fort to protect the settlers on the bayside villages of Whatcom, Sehome, and Fairhaven.
The towns of Fairhaven, Sehome, and Whatcom united into the single City of Bellingham in 1903.
Ten thousand would-be miners camped in tents on Bellingham Bay beaches in 1858 on their way to the Fraser River Gold Rush.
Captain George Pickett, who led the construction of Fort Bellingham, built a home for his family on Bancroft Street; a home that still stands as the oldest in Bellingham.
In September 1857, construction begins on the Whatcom Trail to connect Bellingham to Everson and the international boundary with Canada. The track followed an existing Indian trail called the Nooksack Road.
The Coleman party conquered the summit of Mount Baker on August 17, 1868, leading the way to what would become the birthplace of snowboarding.
The name Whatcom comes from a native Nooksack word meaning "noisy water." Whatcom County split off from Island County on March 9, 1854.
A.W. (Arch) Talbot, first came to Bellingham in the early 1940’s to purchase a local shipbuilding company called Bellingham Bay Shipyards.
After the close of WWII, the lull in shipbuilding activity led Arch to undertake another venture, Bellingham Cold Storage, to provide cold storage warehousing services for local fishermen and farmers.
In the late 1950’s, Arch Talbot’s son Jim succeeded his father to become president of Bellingham Cold Storage.
In 1976, Jim Talbot founded the first Soviet-American joint venture company, which contracted American catcher boats to harvest underutilized species and deliver them to large Soviet factory ships. The fisheries grew to become one of the largest fisheries in the world in the mid 1980’s.
In 1891, local architect Alfred Lee designed the Whatcom City Hall in the Second Empire style.
In 1939 Bellingham built a larger, more modern city hall on Lottie Street. Since then, the Old City Hall building has housed the Whatcom Museum of History & Art.
Citizen’s Dock was built in 1913 by the Inland Navigation Company in anticipation that the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914 would result in an increase of West Coast port traffic.
Admiral: Comes from the Arabic "Emir" or "Amir" which means "First commander" and "Al-bahr, which means "the sea". Emir-al-barh evolved into Admiral
Binnacle: The stand, usually of brass or non-magnetic material in which the compass rests and which contains the compensating magnets (compass holder).
Cardinal points: The four principal points of the compass: North, East, South and West.
Ditty-bag: A small bag used by seamen for stowing small articles.
Ensign: (1) The national flag. (2) A junior officer.
Fo'c'sle: A modern version of the old term "forecastle," or bow section of the ship, where the crew lived.
Gyroscope: a device for measuring or maintaining orientation.
High, wide and handsome: Sailing ship with a favorable wind, sailing dry and easily.
Inboard: Towards the center line of a ship (towards the center).
Jettison: To throw goods overboard.
Knot: Speed of 1 nautical mile per hour (1.7 land miles per hour).
Landlubber: The seaman's term for one who does not go to sea.
Maroon: To put a person ashore with no means of returning.
Nantucket sleigh ride: A Nantucket whalers’ term. A harpooned whale not mortally wounded would take off with the whaleboat in tow.
Oakum: Material used for caulking the seams of vessels and made from the loose fibers of old hemp rope.
Poop deck: A partial deck at the stern above the main deck, derived from the Latin "puppio" for the sacred deck where the "pupi" or images of the deities were kept.
Quay: A cargo-discharging wharf.
Roaring forties: That geographical belt located approximately in 40 degrees south latitude in which boats encounter the prevailing or stormy westerlies.
Semaphore: Flag signaling with the arms.
Turn turtle: To capsize.
Under below: A warning from aloft (heads up).
Veer: To slack off or move off; also said of a change of direction of wind, when the wind shifts to a different direction.
Windlass: An anchor engine used for heaving in the chain cable and anchor.
Yaw: To steer wildly or out of line of course.
The City of Bellingham