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Wenda Shinall - Harrison House's Innkeeper

Welcome Wenda

We are pleased to welcome Wenda Shinall to the Harrison House Suites and Tucker House Inn as our summer innkeeper. Wenda has lived on the island for 10 years and has worked most recently as a Breakfast cook at the Lime Kiln Café in Roche Harbor. In addition to her cooking abilities, she comes from [...]

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Tucker House Joins BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection

We are proud to announce that both the Harrison House and Tucker House Inns have joined the BedandBreakfast.com Diamond Collection, a distinction reserved for premier inns offering extensive amenities and top-rated guest reviews. To qualify as Diamond Collection properties, we had to pass a comprehensive professional two day on-site inspection that measured everything from the [...]

Visits From Descendants

In October we were honored with visits from two descendants of island pioneers. Jerry Hemphill, who we wrote about in our February 2012 Inn Newsletter, actually stayed with us in the original 1898 Tucker House, what we call the Lower Tucker House. Jerry’s father [...]

Spring in the San Juan Islands, WA

The path to the Garden Cafe. Virginia has tucked little surprise pots of flowers throughout the Inn.

20 Plastic Things You Didn’t Know You Can Recycle

Bottle and jar caps: Weisenbach Recycled Products accepts clean plastic bottle caps, plastic jar caps, flip-top caps from personal care products and flexible snap-on lids (e.g. butter tub lids) to turn into funnels and other items. CapsCando.com Brita pitcher filters: Preserve’s Gimme 5 program accepts Brita-brand pitcher filters for recycling. Visit preserveproducts.com/recycling to find a [...]

Joy House History

We were thrilled to hear from Mr. M. J. (Jerry) Hemphill, who sent us photos and his personal history of what’s known in Friday Harbor as the Joy House. To us, it’s the Upper Tucker House, our main check-in and guest pubic area. Jerry’s father (Melville B.) inherited the Joy House from grandfather William in [...]

A Day At The Inns – Wet Feet!

This is the time of year that we focus our attention to our physical plant by giving guest rooms and suites a bit of a face lift in preparation for the summer season. On January 4th, on-site innkeeper Erin Dannelly rolled out of bed and padded barefoot into her kitchen. Still fuzzy headed from sleep, [...]

Island Artists’ Works Adorn Tucker House Walls

The Upper Tucker House walls and Garden Room Café are now adorned with art works by a number of noted island artists, all featuring scenes from the San Juan Islands. Island Studios owner Claudia Fullerton selected pieces from her gallery to display in our main guest public areas, matching each painting and print to [...]

Sunny Skies Herald Spring

The last few days of sunny skies have everyone cheering for Spring’s arrival. And have you noticed the amazing sunsets we’ve been having lately? Yes, it’s true, we live in a post card!

New Orca Calf – Just in Time For Christmas!

Exciting News! It’s been kept quiet to make sure all parties confirmed, but NOAA’s NW Fisheries Science Center and the Center for Whale Research have confirmed that on December 17, 39-year old J16 (Slick) gave birth to a new baby calf in Puget Sound, probably only a few hours judging from the fresh fetal folds, before [...]

Tucker House Named One of 10 Best

The Tucker House was just named one of 10 Great B&B Escapes for Fall on Smarter Travel.com. They particularly loved our Dine and Dream Package, offering special room rates for guests joining us at Coho Restaurant for our San Juan Vineyards Winemaker Dinner on Friday, October 21 and the Westcott Bay Cider/San Juan Distillery Dinner [...]

A Day At The Inn: Puppy Love!

From the keyboard of Stephanie Prima-Sarantopulos: Being a pet-friendly inn, we have lots of four-legged guests. But June 22 was a special day for us dog-loving innkeepers. Staff and volunteers from our local Animal Protection Society had made a trip that day to the Yakima Valley Pet Rescue to bring back two litters of puppies. [...]

Additional Ferry Sailings Authorized for July 4th Holdiay

Visitors to the San Juan Islands this coming holiday weekend may have a little relief from the ferry traffic congestion in Anacortes this year. The WA State Ferries’ Anacortes and Islands Terminals have permission to add ferry service, at their discretion based on need, during the following dates and times over the July 4th holiday:

Mike Bertrand Captures the Beauty of San Juan Island

We just LOVE how Mike Bertrand captures the beauty of San Juan Island. Every one of his photos makes you “wish you were there!” One of Mike’s photos is probably the next best thing to being there; you can view purchase his work online at MichaelBetrandPhotography.com.

Remember to Mark Your Calendar for Encampment

Mark your calendar for the annual Encampment on July 23 & 24 at English Camp. It’s always a kick to see how folks who look so quirky in this day and age look GREAT in mid-19th century garb and setting. There’s always something cooking in the big cast iron pots, interesting artifacts and lost crafts [...]

New Photographer for Inns

With our inns being in business so long and the rooms getting lots of use, we are constantly revamping the facilities, room by room. With the launch of our new Tucker House website coming up next month, we thought it was time for updated photos of our rooms, suites, and cottages as well. Enter Mike [...]

Great Island Clean-Up Picks Up in a BIG Way

The Great Island Clean-Up, held Saturday, April 9th on San Juan Island, was by all measures a huge success! A joint project sponsored by Soroptimists of Friday Harbor,Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, the Chamber of Commerce, Friends of the San Juans, Girls and Boy Scouts, the event drew over 200 volunteers who picked up over 5,000 pounds [...]

Mona In the Snow

Last week the main topic on every islander’s lips was the snow – how lovely, how cold, how unusual, how etc. People carried their cameras with them, because around every turn there was another beautiful sight. Janine Wells captured this endearing image of Mona, our local camel – a petting zoo rescue who now lives [...]

Snow Blankets San Juan Island

From the Keyboard of Stephanie Prima-Sarantopulos: “It’s Snowing!” Yesterday morning I looked up from my desk and these beautiful, fluffy flakes were blowing across the sky. The “storm” lasted most of the morning, dropping a soothing stillness and quiet on the town. Those of you who live in snow country would laugh at our measly [...]

Friday Harbor Threatened with Fast Food Franchise

An editorial from the keyboard of Stephanie Prima-Sarantopulos The Journal of the San Juans reported on October 7th in an on-line story that Pat and Stephanie O’Day were considering opening a Subway franchise at the upper end of Spring Street, in the historic yellow house once occupied by Ositos, and then, Crème Brulee. Local residents [...]