Port Ludlow :: a Master Planned Resort Community for All Ages :: Birding, Boating, Golfing, Hiking, & More

The current organization of Port Ludlow as "The Village in the Woods by the Bay" started in the late 1960s when Pope & Talbot started building a family resort complex and homes on the north side of Port Ludlow Bay.

Port Ludlow is currently best described as an active retiree community with a resort. However over the last few decades, the average age of the residents has gradually decreased, and now we also have a small but growing population of families with children, particularly in the North Bay area.

In the 1840s, Port Ludlow was named after Augustus C. Ludlow, an officer in the U.S. Navy during the war of 1812. There have also been two navy ships named in his honor.

The old growth trees were logged in the 1850s, when a sawmill was established after Puget Sound started exporting timber to San Francisco and beyond. The sawmill and logging operated on and off until the late 1930's under several owners, including Pope & Talbot, who sold their holdings in 1925 and bought them back in from a public auction in 1938. By 1940, the mill had been closed, dismantled, and sold for scrap.

Port Ludlow was also the site of a shipyard in the 1870s. At least fifteen vessels were built, including two- and three-masted schooners, steamers, yachts, and barkentines.

From about 1885 through about WWI, Port Ludlow thrived as a center of culture and industry in Jefferson County. Cyrus Walker, the manager of Pope & Talbot's mills in Port Gamble and Port Ludlow, built an fancy mansion near the mill and very nice homes for many of the mill employees. (These charming houses were moved to Port Gamble during the housing crunch after WWII, and have since been restored.) After Cyrus Walker retired in the 19-teens, his mansion was converted into the Admiralty hotel and the tourism business in Port Ludlow started.