Richmond Beach

There are only a few places between Seattle and Everett where development has occurred waterward of the railroad tracks. This stretch of homes in Richmond Beach is one of them. It is also right up there with Skyline (Anacortes) and a few other select Puget Sound locations where the audacity of the residential development is particularly acute - it is not really typical of shoreline practices on the Sound, but it sure makes for great pictures of seawalls.

The origin of this chunk of land is interesting. It is not a small barrier or cuspate foreland, cut off from the mainland by the railroad. Neither is it all fill - created land on which homes have been built (althugh some of it may be). Rather, it appears to be a low promontory of glacial drift, probably till, that for whatever reasons, chose to project itself farther west than most of this shoreline. Of course, you can't see much of the original geology of this bluff, as it's pretty much plastered over by the concrete retaining walls that protect the homes from the consequences of their spectacular location.