Camano Island is a large island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in the Possession Sound

Possession Sound

Possession Sound is part of Puget Sound, located in the U.S. state of Washington between Whidbey Island and the coastline of Snohomish County approximately between the cities of Everett and Mukilteo. Possession Sound connects the main Puget Sound basin to the south with Saratoga Passage and Port...

 portion of Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

, located in Island County, Washington

Island County, Washington

Island County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. In 2010 census, its population was 78,506. Its county seat is Coupeville, while its largest city is Oak Harbor....

, between Whidbey Island

Whidbey Island

Whidbey Island is one of nine islands located in Island County, Washington, in the United States. Whidbey is located about north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor of western Washington...

 and the mainland. The body of water separating Whidbey Island and Camano Island is called Saratoga Passage

Saratoga Passage

Saratoga Passage lies in Puget Sound between Whidbey Island and Camano Island.Saratoga Passage extends about 18 miles in a northwesterly direction from its entrance between Sandy Point on the Whidbey Island side and Camano Head on the other. At its northern end, Saratoga Passage connects with Penn...

. Camano Island is separated from mainland Snohomish County by Davis Slough near the city of Stanwood

Stanwood, Washington

Stanwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 6,231 at the 2010 census.-History:Stanwood was first settled in 1866 by Robert Fulton. Stanwood's Post Office was established as Centerville in 1870, and the name was changed to Stanwood in 1877 by D.O. Pearson...

. The island is reached via State Route 532

Washington State Route 532

State Route 532 is a short Washington state highway in Island and Snohomish counties, located in the United States. The long roadway begins at Sunrise Boulevard in Camano and travels east through Stanwood to end at...

 over the Camano Gateway Bridge

Mark Clark Bridge

The Mark Clark Bridge, built in 1949, carried Washington State Route 532 across the Stillaguamish River to connect Stanwood, Washington to Camano Island. It provided the only road access to the island. The bridge was named to honor General Mark W. Clark, a decorated Army officer of World War II...

 in the northeast of the island.

There were 13,358 residents on the island as of the 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

, but the population peaks at 17,000 during the summer months with retired "snowbirds.

Snowbird (people)

The term snowbird is used to describe people from the U.S. Northeast, U.S. Midwest, or Canada who spend a large portion of winter in warmer locales such as California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, or elsewhere along the Sun Belt region of the southern and southwest United States,...

" The island has a total land area of 102.99 km² (39.77 sq mi), though it was larger before the Great Slide

Possession Sound

Possession Sound is part of Puget Sound, located in the U.S. state of Washington between Whidbey Island and the coastline of Snohomish County approximately between the cities of Everett and Mukilteo. Possession Sound connects the main Puget Sound basin to the south with Saratoga Passage and Port...

 of 1825. Kristoferson Lake is the largest lake on Camano Island.

Name Origin

Camano Island is named for the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 explorer Jacinto Caamaño

Jacinto Caamaño

Jacinto Caamaño Moraleja was the leader of the last great Spanish exploration of Alaska and the Coast of British Columbia. He was a Knight of the Military Order of Calatrava. Born in Madrid, he came from an aristocratic Galician family, whose homestead was near Santiago de Compostela...

. Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War...

, during the Wilkes Expedition

United States Exploring Expedition

The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. The voyage was authorized by Congress in...

 of 1838-1842, named it MacDonough Island in honor of Thomas MacDonough

Thomas MacDonough

Thomas Macdonough was an early-19th-century American naval officer noted for his roles in the first Barbary War, and the War of 1812. He was the son of a revolutionary officer, Thomas Sr. who lived close to Middleton, Delaware. Being the sixth child born, he came from a large family of ten...

 for his victory of the Battle of Lake Champlain

Battle of Plattsburgh

The Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, ended the final invasion of the northern states during the War of 1812...

 during the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

. Following this theme, Wilkes named the body of water between Camano and Whidbey Island after MacDonough's flagship the Saratoga

USS Saratoga (1814)

The second USS Saratoga, named for the Battles of Saratoga, was a corvette built on Lake Champlain for service in the War of 1812.-Service history:...

. When Henry Kellett

Henry Kellett

Vice Admiral Sir Henry Kellett KCB was a British naval officer and explorer.-Naval career:Kellett joined the Royal Navy in 1822...

 reorganized the official British Admiralty charts in 1847, he removed Wilkes' name MacDonough and bestowed the name Camano, which the Spanish had originally given to Admiralty Inlet

Admiralty Inlet

Admiralty Inlet is a strait in the U.S. state of Washington connecting the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Puget Sound. It lies between Whidbey Island and the northeastern part of the Olympic Peninsula....

in 1790. Wilkes' name Saratoga Passage was retained.

Events

• The Port Susan Snow Goose & Birding Festival (Feb)
• The Camano Island Mother's Day Art Studio Tour (May)
• The Spring Art Show (June)
• Art by the Bay, The Stanwood-Camano Festival of Art and Music (July)
• The Stanwood Camano Community Fair (August)
• The Harvest Jubilee (Sept)
• The AAUW Art for Education Show (October)
• The Stanwood-Camano Chili & Chowder Cookoff (November)

External links

• http://www.nwsource.com/travel/scr/tf_destination.cfm?ct=298&pageid=WA
• http://www.CamanoIsland.org
• http://www.whidbeycamanoislands.com/
• http://www.camanoanimalshelter.org/