Throughout 2021 the Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, available online here. In 1838, an American naval officer, Charles Wilkes, was given command of an expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean and document its shores and islands. Wilkes reached the southern end of Puget Sound in July 1841. He and his crew were among the first Americans to set foot at what is now Olympia.
Thomas Sully portrait of Charles Wilkes, 1838-1842.
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021