Wikimedia Commons/Sheila Sund
Washington’s maritime city doesn’t need to try hard
Gig Harbor sits on a quiet bay off Puget Sound, about six miles west of Tacoma, and it has the kind of waterfront that makes you slow down before you even find a place to park.
About 12,000 people live here, and the town has been tied to the water since the 1800s. Smithsonian Magazine put it on a list of the 20 best small towns in America back in 2012.
Once you walk Harborview Drive, you’ll understand why, but the fishing history underneath it all is what really sticks with you.
Wikimedia Commons/Ken Lund
Croatian fishermen built this town from the water up
The bay got its name in 1841 when the Wilkes Expedition entered it in a small captain’s gig, the kind of rowboat officers used to get to shore…