written by Lauren Kramer

If you’re looking for warmth, charm and a rustic, rural ambience, make a beeline for the Tokeland Hotel. The oldest hotel in the state, it was built in 1885, four years before Washington joined the confederation, and that venerable age steeps the hotel in authenticity. You feel it in the thick wood walls, the furniture, some of which came over on the Mayflower, and the eclectic decor of the common areas, whose walls feature taxidermied animal heads and whose surfaces are packed with plants and interesting paraphernalia. Take a seat by the crackling fireplace on lovingly worn leather sofas, pick a book from shelves heavy with literature or check out the freshly made galettes and towering cakes that call temptingly from the dessert buffet. This is a place where pet cats roam the halls, where Gus, the well-fed labrador, is a fixture in the dining room and where chickens, goats and pigs totter around outside, living full, healthy lives. Coming to the Tokeland is like spending the night with a longtime, trusted friend: cozy, comforting and homey. And its location, on a tongue of land surrounded by the Willapa Bay estuary, makes you feel like you’re sequestered on the very edge of civilization.

ACCOMMODATIONS

The Tokeland Hotel has just seventeen rooms and four shared bathrooms, but its bedrooms are comfortably furnished with new beds and quality linens. The rooms are small but adequate since guests spend their leisure time in the hotel’s many cozy communal spaces.

AMENITIES

Guests can pedal the quiet streets that line the estuary on complimentary cruiser bikes. At night there’s a communal fire pit with Adirondack chairs, and a wood-heated hot tub and cold plunge available for private bookings. The hotel has several communal spaces warmed by wood stoves and fireplaces and equipped with books and a great selection of games.

DINING

The hotel’s restaurant, The Wandering Goose, has earned its reputation for fabulous fine dining, and its relaxed, unpretentious dining room is a favorite destination for locals and hotel guests. Heather Earnhardt is at the helm, an acclaimed Seattle chef who ditched city life in 2018 and moved to Willapa Bay with her family, won over by its peace and serenity. With many of her proteins, fruit and vegetables supplied by area farms, her menu is a true farm-to-table smorgasbord infused with creative cuisine that never strays far from comfort food. Don’t miss the sorghum salad with fried chicken, or the Toke Point oysters, harvested daily just steps from the back door.

HISTORY

Built as a family farmhouse in 1885, the building opened as an inn in 1899. At various points in its history, it had a nine-hole golf course on its grounds and housed the town’s post office and general store. In 1978, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and under different ownership over the decades, it’s been carefully improved and updated.

2964 KINDRED AVE.
TOKELAND
www.tokelandhotel.com