HITE, David R.

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Riley M. Hoskinson homestead and surrounding area ca. 1896-1897

This photo was taken from the Hoskinson homestead by Riley Hoskinson's son Stewart. The camera direction is the reverse of the first photo of the Hoskinson homestead, with the camera now located behind the windmill seen in the first picture looking toward the barn (center of this photo) and beyond. Based on this photo, the camera location in the first photograph was at the crossroads to the right of the church located in the middle distance center of this photo. Riley and neighbor Ambrose Grow were driving forces behind the building the church, the Eagle Harbor Congregational Church, (left with bell tower) and school (to the right of the church.) In late 1883, took out an advertisement in The Seattle Post Intelligencer seeking a teacher for this school. The church was completed in 1896, dating the photo, per this history of the building from the Bremerton Sun. Note also this photo was taken in fall or winter, because the fruit trees in the picture are devoid of leaves. You can see in this photo some garden paths and garden plots amongst the tress. The white house to the left of the church is the church parsonage. The pole located closest to the camera is very interesting. It appears to be steel (which would have been quite expensive to buy and haul to Bainbridge Island) and quite tall, anchored at the bottom, with the angled white line that crosses the left of the photo suggesting a guy line or wire to hold the pipe steady in high winds. My guess is atop this pole would have been wind speed and direction instruments to aid Riley's weather measurements. The pole does not appear in the first photo of the Hoskinson homestead suggesting this photo was taken after the first, and the pole a later additional to the property. Was the pole perhaps provided to Riley by the Signal Service? On the far left, the deforested and burned land of the first photo is again evident. There also appears to be a large section of land deforested, but not yet burned beyond the church and the white house. You can still see the tree stumps sticking out of the ground. Behind the school the land appears to have been completely cleared except for a couple tress. Some of this land is certainly the land Riley offered for sale beginning in Nov 1883 and was still offering for sale in Mar 1895. His 1886 advertisement specifically offers land has been logged and burned, but not yet cleared suggesting the property on the left of the photo. The plat map for the Hoskinson homestead suggests all of the land in the picture may have been owned by Riley Hoskinson. Finally, note this photo shows the pallisade style fencing seen fronting that road in the first photo continues as the road extends past the church and school. You can also see it fronting the road that runs left to right in front of the white house, church and school. It would have been quite an undertaking to construct so much closed fencing, involving many thousands of individual boards. This photo appeared in the 19 Nov 2017 edition of the Kitsap Sun with the following caption: "Riley Hoskinson operated this weather station and windmill at his home just north of Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island from 1878 to 1889. He gathered weather observations every day and sent regular reports to Washington, D.C. Hoskinson's station is flanked in the distance by the Eagle Harbor Congregational Church's parsonage and church center. Madrone's second school is on the upper right.."