Harris Avenue

Road workers fix up Harris Avenue

Harris Avenue is the main street running east/west in Fairhaven. I'm pretty sure it's the oldest paved street in Fairhaven, and possibly Bellingham, but I couldn't corroborate that. It's a picturesque avenue, with brick going down the center and textured concrete on either side, ridged so the horses' hooves of days gone by could get a good grip on the hilly slopes. Hopefully whatever work these guys are doing will leave Harris Avenue unblemished.

Harris Avenue has a rich history, and it's fun to wander down the street and read the informational plaques embedded along the way. Among them are "Chinese Deadline - No Chinese allowed beyond this point 1898-1908" and "Unknown dead man displayed here 1901". It allows you to see past the charm and quaintness of modern-day Fairhaven and picture it as the rough-and-tumble wild west town it really was. For a complete listing of the plaques and the history behind them, see this article in Klipsun, the magazine from Western Washington University. The picture below is one of the plaques, obviously off the beaten path on one of the offshoots of the Interurban trail.

She Gazes Out the Window

at the statue of Dirty Dan Harris, founder of Fairhaven. He looks lonely... and a little hungry. Maybe he'd like some of her grilled cheese sandwich.

This was taken inside the Colophon Cafe, a cozy little restaurant inside Village Books. I can never resist their Mexican corn-and-bean soup... or their peanut-butter pie! Yum.

Dirty Dan Harris

The legendary Dirty Dan Harris waits for a friend to share his bench with him outside the Colophon Cafe in Fairhaven.