Historic Properties Survey  

The Washington Information System for Architectural and Archaeological Records Data (WISAARD) is an award winning online GIS map tool for locating designated historical sites which are listed on the state and national register. Information includes images of the property, a short summary description about the significance of each resource and a link to the nomination and/or inventory form.

More than 1,000 properties were surveyed by the Jefferson County Historical Society and are included in this database. Much more information, including photographs and maps, is available at the Research Center. 

A Note from the JCHS Archivist
How do I research a property?

There are a couple of options for researching your property, but only a few that you can really do during COVID. If your home is in the historic district in Port Townsend or is a potentially listed property in Washington State, you can use the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation’s WISAARD portal.  This is helpful if there is a specific building or property that has been inventoried for the National Historic Register, or if the property is in a Historic District. If you have questions about how to use that system, we have created a ~4 minute overview of how to use the system (video link). This is the first place I would start my search. If the house has been surveyed by a previous researcher or preservationist, the notes would be located there.

 

You can also search our online collection.  I recommend searching by street name rather than a specific address. If an adjacent house or area has a photo, it may have images of your house in the periphery.

 

Beyond that, the next best resource is our Vertical Files. Unfortunately our Research Center is closed for COVID 19. We would need to converse over email, or you could wait until Jefferson County reaches the next phase. In the next Phase the Research Center may be open by appointment only. If you pass along an address, I can at least let you know if we have a file on the property. Please send those requests to research@jchsmuseum.com

 

There are some historic parcel maps available online, but unfortunately none from our collection are. You may have some luck on the Washington Secretary of State Archives. You can also look at the Library of Congress. They have digitized the Sanborn Insurance maps from the turn of the 19th/20th century, which are very helpful in understanding the use of different buildings. The Port Townsend ones are here.

 

The final resource would be the old accessor books. We have the oldest ones for the county, but more modern accessor rolls I believe are now housed with the Washington Secretary of State. You may have some luck on their website. The older books in our collection can be very challenging to reference due to their size and the limited amount of information in each book.