Washington's Oldest Operating Hotel, On Willapa Bay Since 1885
2964 Kindred Avenue, Tokeland, WA 98590
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Hotel rooms typically $90-200 per night; on-site restaurant The Wandering Goose serves breakfast and dinner.
Access
Limited Access
Mixed
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1885 · National Register of Historic Places (1978) · Oldest Operating Hotel in Washington State · Kindred Family Homestead
William Kindred and his wife Lizzie homesteaded the Toke Point peninsula on Willapa Bay in the early 1880s, naming the settlement for the Chinook chief Toke who lived nearby. Their original 1885 farmhouse stood at what is now 2964 Kindred Avenue. By 1899 the Kindreds had expanded the structure into a full hotel to accommodate the growing traffic of oystermen, salmon canners, and steamboat travelers crossing the bay between Tokeland and South Bend.
The Tokeland Hotel was a regular stop for coastal travelers through the early twentieth century. The Kindred family operated the hotel for nearly half a century. After several changes of ownership and periods of decline, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 16, 1978.
A major restoration in the early 2000s under owners Scott and Katherine White preserved the original wooden structure, the dining room with its bay views, and the Kindreds' fireplaces. In 2018 Heather Earnhardt and her family acquired the property, integrating the hotel with their Seattle restaurant The Wandering Goose. The Tokeland is now the longest-continuously-operated hotel in Washington State.
Sources
The Tokeland's haunted reputation centers on a single account that the hotel itself shares with guests. According to lore preserved by the Kindred family and successive owners, in the 1930s a Chinese immigrant known as Charley fled smugglers along the Pacific coast and was hidden by William and Lizzie Kindred in a concealed compartment behind one of the hotel's brick fireplaces. Charley reportedly died there of smoke inhalation when a fire burned in the chimney. Reports describe the smell of smoke and a male presence near the original dining-room fireplace.
Rooms 4 and 7 are formally designated as Haunted Rooms by the current ownership. Guest accounts from Room 7 describe night terrors, the sensation of pressure on the chest while sleeping, and the silhouette of a dark figure standing at the foot of the bed. Hotel staff have published an account claiming Room 7 was the site of a murder early in the property's history, though no primary news source corroborating that claim has been located.
A spectral cat is also part of the inn's lore; guests have submitted reports of a cat walking across their bed at night before disappearing. The Wandering Goose restaurant staff have reported the sounds of footsteps and shifting silverware in the empty dining room before opening hours.
Notable Entities
Book one of 18 hotel rooms or the seasonal coastal cabins. Rooms 4 and 7 are designated by the hotel as 'Haunted Rooms,' associated with reports tied to a man known as Charley who lived hidden behind a fireplace in the 1930s.
On-site restaurant serving Pacific Northwest comfort food, including the Tokeland Hotel's long-running cranberry pot roast, in the original 1885 dining room overlooking Willapa Bay.
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