Lopez
Orcas
San Juan
Shaw
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Centre Church - built in 1887
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The island was named after Lopez Gonzales
de Haro, the Spanish captain who "discovered" the islands in 1791.
The next Europeans to come to Lopez were the Scandinavian fishermen
in the early 19th century, having discovered what the earlier cultures
had known all along - that the shores of the these islands teemed with fish. |
| Lopez's gentle topography encouraged
agriculture somewhat earlier than the other islands. When white settlers arrived on the
San Juans in the 1850's, Lopez was their first choice. Now farmers raise everything from
sheep to llamas, and their crops reflect the same exotic range: from wine grapes to apples,
from pears to kiwis. Visitors to Lopez will see a pastoral landscape with fewer
luxury summer homes compared to the two "big" islands of Orcas and San Juan. |
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Farm near Richardson
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Worthy of a visit are the Lopez
Historical Museum in Lopez Village, The general store in Richardson, on the SW corner, which was
built in 1917 and is recorded on the National Register of Historic Places, and Centre Church,
built in 1887, along with pioneer Union Cemetery on Davis Bay Rd.
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