FORT WILLAPA

A stockade built by residents of the Willapa Valley in 1855 when fear of Indian attacks swept the Northwest. The site, now known as Giesy's Crossing on Highway 6, was at the north end of the valley and overlooked the Willapa River.

Three small buildings surrounded by a stockade wall (with guard house on top) were built to protect the settlers. The time of fear passed and the fort was never used for defense purposes.

For several years afterward it was a community meeting place or housed new families moving into the valley. The stockade was sometimes known as Fort Giesy because it was on land taken as Donation Land Claims by the John and Henry Giesy families. Eventually the stockade fell into disrepair and the Giesy family built their home on the site.

A post office was established at the fort April 29, 1858, and continued until Dec. 7, 1870, when the office was moved to Woodard's Landing.

The tree shaded knoll near the fort site is the gravesite of Willie Keil and members of the Keil Colony and Giesy family. An historical roadside marker on Highway 6 tells the story of possibly the longest burial processional in history.