Hi, I'm Eric.

I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

I help implement the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe.

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50
Manchester State Park
50

Manchester State Park

east of Port Orchard, Washington
visited 3 July 2021
Back to parks list

Manchester State Park is one of many that are built on former military grounds in the Puget Sound region. It offers a nice combination of abandoned buildings, forested trails, camping, and waterfront views.

An abandoned concrete bunker with weathered, rusted steel double doors sits at the end of a grassy dirt path, surrounded by dense green trees and leafy undergrowth in dappled morning sunlight.
A calm stretch of Puget Sound water viewed from a rocky shoreline, framed by a tall evergreen and leafy green shrubs in the foreground, with a forested hillside across the water under a soft blue morning sky.
A calm inlet at Manchester State Park under a clear deep-blue summer sky, with a bare weathered dead tree standing on a pebbly shoreline. A tall evergreen and leafy green shrubs frame the left foreground, while a forested far shore dotted with waterfront houses lines the opposite side of the water.
A gravel road winds through a dense evergreen forest at Manchester State Park, with tall Douglas firs, lush green undergrowth, ferns, and dappled morning sunlight casting shadows across the path under a clear blue sky.

Once upon a time, a train came to Manchester. It’s hard to imagine it now as the tracks and even the rail grade are long gone, but the former station remains, now used as a picnic shelter and event pavilion. A good friend of mine was married here; she encouraged me to go looking for it when I explored this park.

An old brick building with a row of arched openings along its side and gabled front, now used as a picnic shelter, set in a grassy clearing surrounded by tall evergreen trees under a clear blue sky. A paved path runs past the building and a spherical stone sits on the grass to the right.
A weathered historic brick building with a row of large arched openings stretching into the distance, its faded masonry showing patches of red, tan, and whitewashed brick. The open-sided structure sits on a concrete base amid a green lawn with ferns and leafy trees, with picnic tables visible through the arches in the shaded interior.
The interior of a weathered brick structure with a row of tall pointed-arch openings looking out onto a sunlit green lawn and lush trees at Manchester State Park. The aged brick walls show patches of exposed red brick, faded blue-gray paint, and moss, with an exposed wooden ceiling above and old metal grills on the concrete floor.

This site will mostly be a color photoblog, but I couldn’t resist getting out my trusty infrared camera to shoot one of the old train station:

An infrared black-and-white photograph of a shrub with glowing white foliage growing in front of a weathered brick building with two tall arched openings at Manchester State Park near Port Orchard, Washington.
A dirt hiking trail winds through a lush evergreen forest, flanked by thick clusters of bright green sword ferns and tall moss-covered conifer trunks, with morning sunlight filtering through the dense canopy.
A narrow dirt hiking trail winding through a lush green forest dense with ferns, moss-covered tree trunks, and leafy undergrowth, with dappled morning sunlight filtering through the canopy.
A weathered concrete bunker opening framing a dark interior room stained with green moss and rust, with a bright rectangular window at the far end looking out onto dense green foliage.
A dirt trail lined with lush green bushes leads down toward the calm water of Puget Sound at Manchester State Park, with a dark red sign reading “Alcoholic Beverages Prohibited Beyond This Point” beside the path and a forested shoreline in the hazy distance under a blue morning sky.
A gravel path winds through lush green brush, ferns, and berry bushes toward a historic brick building with arched openings and a round window, set among tall evergreen trees in Manchester State Park. A few picnic tables sit in front of the structure under a bright blue summer sky.
Exposed, tangled tree roots sprawl across an eroded sandy bank along a shoreline at Manchester State Park, with evergreen conifers leaning toward a calm, sunlit bay in the morning light. A pebbly beach and a piece of driftwood lie in the foreground, with hazy forested hills across the water.
A conifer tree leans dramatically over a pebbly, moss-covered beach at Manchester State Park, its branches framing a calm inlet of Puget Sound with a forested shoreline in the distance under a clear pale sky in morning light.

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