Hidden in Plain Sight | A Deeper Look at Holly, Washington's Lost History

[@gregsalo950]

Back in the 1980s when I was looking for acreage to buy, I walked around some of the land near Camp Union. The old logging railroad beds were still passable (on foot) in those years. And I walked a bit of them. Like you said in the video, these were all on private property. I wish I had taken photos. Thanks for your video.

[@StackPackMaTT]

That's crazy that book is written by Fred Just. I just put out a video today of the cemetery at the Marina by the old Seabeck Elementry and it was founded in 1860. My Daughter and I did a night time ghost investigation there and there was a WHOLE FAMILY OF THE JUSTS'. They spoke to us a lot. If you wanted to check that out I think you will be pretty blown away like I am knowing a family member wrote that book! I love the way you put these 2 Holly videos together as I am from Seabeck. Thank you so much for bringing light of Holly to the world. MUCH LOVE

[@troyhall8144]

I went to school at Seabeck 1 year 77/78. The school was still finishing being remodeled so we actually had to start the year out going to school at the Seabeck conference grounds across the street from the Marina. I went to CKJH with the Just boys Andy and Harold. There's a lot of stories and history about the Just family and most of it was creepy. Andy killed himself years ago.

[@StackPackMaTT]

@@troyhall8144 In the book it says one of the just kids (forgot the 1st name) but he actually murdered an old man and they never found his body. When my daughter and I investigated there (it's on my channel) when we were at his headstone my daughter got touched in the back, my ear started rining and I had a sharp pain in my side. Didn't think anything of it at the time but kind of makes sense after reading the book. I actually went to elementary at Green Mountain then went to CKJH and graduated from CKHS.

[@StackPackMaTT]

Oh and also heard some kind of Growl that we didn't hear in real time when we had walked away from his grave. Don't know if you belive in the Paranormal but it was pretty weird

[@troyhall8144]

@@StackPackMaTT wow yes I do believe in that stuff. I have been to that exact graveyard years ago and remember it being creepy. I remember seeing a tube sticking up from one of the graves and it creeped me out.

[@StackPackMaTT]

@@troyhall8144 I did see a couple holes where I could tell a tube used to be. Back in the day they would put a bell at the top of the tube and a rope down to the person buried just in case they weren't dead they could ring the bell. There were a lot of people being buried alive back in the day. That's actually where the term "saved by the bell" came from. Fun fact. But yeah, that place is still creepy as heck and is probably more grown over since the last time you had been there. It's well maintained though which is really nice. Thanks for subscribing BTW 🙂

[@backwoodsracer5212]

As a lifelong hintzville local who spends most of my time in the summer down in holly/dewatto, awesome job on the video! It’s so cool seeing the historic pictures and hearing about the history. There’s still some railroad tracks out here that I found as a kid and while out hunting I sometimes stumble upon them still. The book is a wonderful resource as fred just’s family was one of the first to settle out here. I’ve talked to some old timers and they swear that at one point, Seabeck held the world record for the most board feet of timber taken out by railroad in a day, which was 2 million board feet. But that’s just a local legend so who knows lol

[@nomadic.thoughts]

Thank you! I didn’t know any railroad tracks were left, that’s and the local legend are so cool.

[@neallightle3766]

@@nomadic.thoughtsthis is true, Backwoods and I grew up on the same street and those tracks ran through the back of the yard in my childhood home

[@GrizzlyPath]

You did a great job consolidating some great information about that area. I live in Poulsbo and frequently am out in the Tahuya, Holly, Seabeck area and enjoy learning about the history of where I live. Thanks for sharing!

[@RobBogdan]

This is fantastic. I knew about Seabeck (and I agree it’s beautiful), but I had never heard of Holly or Nellita. Thank you for making this video.

[@asheland_numismatics]

Awesome video! 🐰🤗

[@timcareymusic]

I grew up in Crosby and rode my bike down Nelita road and down the hill to Holly all the time. Thank you for this!

[@JakeSeattleX19]

The best way to find where any of the tracks were in the area is to use Washington DNR Lidar portal. Seabeck creek trestle 47.60121173433091, -122.85940377897643 at the fork in the creek. On DNR land, closest access from cowboy ln. Track headed west from camp union (crosses in the dip north of Hite Center rd on seabeck holly rd) to the south side of the fork in Seabeck creek trestle crossing. The grade was pretty well built on the hill of SE side of the creek fork and should be pretty obvious when you stumble across it. The grade then heads north down the west side of the floor of Seabeck creek canyon heading to seabeck. The trestle there had only a few support poles standing last time I saw it and most had collapsed. There are many other spurs in the area that head off north and south but are hard to find unless you know what your looking for.

[@nomadic.thoughts]

That’s so interesting! I’ll definitely check out the Lidar portal and see what I can find out there

[@grtarr2000]

Great video.

[@allenbiltoft4301]

Wow good job!

[@bazboo1284]

Nice collection of videos, new subscriber right here 👍

[@scuba-prof7979]

I love across the Hood Canal from Holly. The history presented is greatly appreciated.

[@kingstonstallings3938]

Narrator mentioned they're not sure what happened to the Sawmill---pretty sure it used to be abandoned on a property up Seaview Drive, but was sold or gotten rid of in the early 2000s. Used to play on it as a kid!

[@athomewithjenny]

So devastating that the school house has burned down. I love this area. Kitsap is home.

[@kylee1824]

Ikr so sad 😭 hate seeing the sad remains of it while passing by

[@jaym1301]

I grew up in Crosby in the 1960s and '70s so this area's my old stompin' grounds. The logs that supported the trestle at Camp Union that crossed Big Beef Creek were still there, behind some small houses across the road from what used to be the Camp Union Store, now apparently a pizza place. The store was run by a grouchy old Swedish lady named Moen and was where we kids would buy pop and candy. The foundation of the roundhouse for turning the old steam locomotives was still there behind the store. Seabeck General Store was owned and run by Tom Burkell who also drove the only ambulance in the area, located at the fire station there, and was a great man. All that was there at the time was the store, a wharf where small boats could be rented for fishing, a tiny post office, the Seabeck Elementary School, and a church-owned "conference grounds" across the mill pond on the other side of the store consisting of cottages that were the homes of the mill workers. When I was in my teens my friends and I used to ride small motorcycles on the old logging railroad grades in the area using them as trails, just exploring. In some places the old ties were still there so it was pretty bumpy. The woods had been logged off several times and were onto at least second growth trees if not third which is why there was so much salal and huckleberry underbrush but there were still small logging operations there. No more one-log loads on the trucks though. It was a great place to grow up if you liked the outdoors, not so much if you were into social life (i.e. dating girls) or town activities like seeing a movie.

[@jaym1301]

Also, a woman by the name of Sperber who lived in the area was a writer for the Kitsap Herald or Sun, I forget which, and did a large full-page article on Camp Union with old pictures from the logging era. I recall that she mentioned that among the locomotives were a Baldwin, a Big Shea and a Little Shea. I think there was one other one. Perhaps you could find it in the archives if the paper still exists. It was from the late 1960s or very early 1970s.

[@nomadic.thoughts]

That’s all so fascinating! It sounds like the area hasn’t changed a whole lot since the 60s/70s. I will definitely try to find that article, I’d love to read it!

[@allenwd1]

I lived in Holly in the early 60's and am surprised that there is no mention of the shrimp trawling fleet that worked out of there in days long past. It was a pretty big industry at the time and although the trawlers were all gone by the time I lived there Leo Kramer still ran a string of pots and would cook them on board and truck them to the Seattle market. We would often, upon seeing him come in, go and meet the boat and buy them fresh.

[@quittintime33]

RIP Old Holly Schoolhouse 4/13/2022

[@nomadic.thoughts]

I hadn’t heard it had been destroyed until I saw this and looked it up! How heartbreaking, so much history lost.

[@quittintime33]

@@nomadic.thoughts I heard the news last night. So very sad.

[@nicolasperazzo1110]

So sad