"Parked at Ebeys Landing" Whidby Island, plein air, landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"Parked at Ebeys Landing 8x12 oil on panel  Sold

Saturday, after a cold but cozy night in the van we met at Ebeys landing. The day began cold and windy but turned to bright , warm sun by 11:00 am . Most of the group scattered out along the road to paint the bluff and hillside and I joined them. More and more painters and hikers started showing up and parking their cars in front of me so I finally gave up and painted the cars into the scene!

 History of Ebeys Landing is very interesting. Here is a portion of the story from the State Park Guide;

 Colonel Isaac Neff Ebey was among the first of the permanent settlers to the island. Upon the advice of his friend Samuel Crockett, Ebey came west from his home in Missouri in search of land. Both men had filed donation claims on Central Whidbey by the spring of 1851. Ebey wrote home, enthusiastically urging his family to join him.

"My dear brother— I scarcely know how I shall write or what I shall write . . . the great desire of heart is to get my own and father's family to this country. I think it would be a great move. I have always thought so . . . To the north down along Admiralty Inlet . . . the cultivating land is generally found confined to the valleys of streams with the exception of Whidbey's Island . . . which is almost a paradise of nature. Good land for cultivation is abundant on this island. I have taken a claim on it and am now living on the same in order to avail myself of the provisions of the Donation Law. If Rebecca, the children, and you all were here, I think I could live and die here content."

Colonel Isaac Ebey
letter to his brother, W.S. Ebey
Olympia, Oregon
April 25, 1851

Ebey's family soon emigrated to the island. The simple home of Isaac's father Jacob, and a blockhouse he erected to defend his claim against Indians, still stand today overlooking the prairie that bears the family name. As for Isaac, he became a leading figure in public affairs, but his life was cut short in 1857, when he was slain by northern coastal Indians seeking revenge for the killing of one of their own chieftains.

Apparently,  The Haida Indians were raiding the Suquamish in Port Gamble and a US Navy ship intervened, killing a chief .  In retribution they killed Ebey.
 Read more of the story  HERE