Hope Island Marine State Park

Hope Island Marine State Park is located in South Puget Sound in Mason County. This island is reachable by boat only and it's a true Puget Sound camping experience. The island is covered with old-growth forests and saltwater marshes with a beach at low tide that is 1.5 miles around. Within the island, there are two miles of hiking trails that can be explored. The old homestead offers unsheltered picnic tables and vault toilets. Restrictions include no fires, pack out your garbage and no water available. But the camping is superb, there are a dozen or so tent spaces provided first come, first served. Hope Island also provides several buoys. Also, don't confuse this with the other Hope Island State Park near Deception Pass in Skagit County.

While charting Puget Sound, Commander Charles Wilkes named Hope Island for one of his crew in 1841. Then, around 1900, the Louis Schmidt Family established a homestead and orchard on the south end of the island. They constructed a farmhouse, several outbuildings, a windmill and excavated a shallow well. A small orchard consisting of fruit and nut trees (apples, pears, walnuts), supplemented the family diet. They also brought livestock to the island, cattle, horses, and fox, and maintained a vineyard on the southeast end producing Island Belles grapes which were sold to a winery on Hartstene Island. Furrows from the old vineyard can still be seen amidst the dense Douglas fir stand at the southeast end of the island and a few remnant vines can be found winding their way to the tree tops in search of sunlight. Sarah and Robert Munn purchased Hope Island in 1943 for $20,000. Sarah and Robert had four children: Robert, Mary Pat, Allen, and Sally, and ten grandchildren. Robert Munn died in 1954. Sarah Munn kept Hope Island as a vacation place and, though the Munn's never lived on the island, they visited it frequently, especially in the summers. Sarah Munn died in May of 1990 at age 97.

Washington State Parks purchased Hope Island in 1990. Their goal is to protect the natural and human-made elements that make Hope Island special. Trails and boardwalks have been constructed to protect sensitive habitat. Open space around the orchards and homestead areas are being maintained by staff and volunteers.