6 of the Quirkiest Towns in Washington

Washington’s quirkiest towns are not quirky by accident. They are shaped by weather, geography, and isolation, whether that means a foggy Pacific beach, a one-street arts hub, or a community built around a single waterfall. In places like Long Beach, the peninsula feels more windswept than polished. Edison runs on galleries and counterculture energy despite its tiny size. Prosser blends small-town routines with vineyard country rhythms. Forks leans into rain, forests, and its outsized pop-culture reputation. Vashon moves at its own island pace, while Snoqualmie revolves around a roaring waterfall and a historic rail town core. Together, these towns show how Washington’s quirks come straight from the landscape and the people who choose to stay.

Long Beach

True to its name, Long Beach features a 28-mile stretch of sand that claims to be the longest drivable beach in the world. Though this might be an exaggeration—Bangladesh also boasts a significant driveable beach—the city, home to 1,700 residents, has many other claims to fame. These include giant 30-foot chopsticks and a 15-foot frying pan, reconstructed from one used to make a giant clam fritter at the 1941 Long Beach Razor Clam Festival. If you're looking for something more normal-sized, visit Marsh's Free Museum. Despite its typical size, the museum's displays are anything but ordinary, featuring a two-headed calf, a cyclops lamb, and shrunken heads. The main attraction is Jake the Alligator Man, a supposedly mummified creature that is part man, part alligator, and a well-known figure in Pacific Northwest folklore. His incredible story has been featured in Weekly World News, while his more plausible backstory was created by the prolific oddity artist Homer Tate.

Edison

Edison, home to 240 residents in Skagit County, is believed to be named after the renowned inventor. However, a more plausible origin is Edison Slough, which flows through the town into Samish Bay. The small settlement has a history of peculiar events, beginning with the Equality Colony. Established in Maine based on utopian ideals by novelist Edward Bellamy, the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth (BCC) expanded into Washington in 1897, establishing a colony near Edison named after Bellamy's recent book and an inspiring concept. The socialist community engaged in farming, logging, fishing, sewing, blacksmithing, and published a newspaper called Industrial Freedom. By 1898, around 300 people had joined the colony, but internal conflicts with the BCC and the death of their leader from a fallen tree led to the colony's collapse in 1907.

Fast forward 120 years, and the clucks marching through Edison actually cluck. Each February, Edison hosts a Chicken Parade where real chickens and people dressed as chickens waddle down Main Street. Are you too chicken to join? Maybe Edison's fantastic restaurants and bakery will feed your courage.

Prosser

Prosser is a small community of 6,000 residents in south-central Washington, with a unique feature located about 10 miles north of downtown. Accessible via a remote backcountry road that's often difficult to find, it’s worth the effort. Upon discovering an abandoned grain elevator and a sign labeled "start," visitors often put their vehicles in neutral and watch in amazement as they roll uphill—this phenomenon is known as Gravity Hill. Although many supernatural theories surround it—frequent in connection with the eerie elevator—most scientists believe it’s an optical illusion. The road appears inclined, but in reality, it’s part of a larger decline that drivers cannot see, causing vehicles to seemingly roll uphill. Nonetheless, skepticism persists, as evidenced by graffiti of an alien near the start. Another local attraction is the Great Prosser Balloon Rally, where numerous hot air balloons drift over orchards and wineries, possibly including the alien sketch. Live long in Prosser.

Forks

If you come to a Forks in the road, stay for the restaurants, stores, and museums, then go east to Olympic National Park. This near-million-acre preserve is like a fairy tale forest for all its weirdness and wonder. Olympic's northwest patch contains the Hall of Mosses, a natural corridor flanked by twisty trees flowing with moss. Keep trekking east, and if you look closely, you will find One Square Inch of Silence, a red pebble marking the allegedly quietest place in America. Lastly, a trip to the western coast will reveal the Kalaloch Tree of Life, which appears to levitate above its splitting foundation.

If you still do not feel like a storybook character, head back to Forks and look out for vampires and werewolves. The 3,300-person "city" is the setting for the Twilight series of novels and films. Paradoxically, Twilight's release was the dawn of a tourism boom in Forks, which persists as the annual Forever Twilight in Forks Festival, held in September and full of fans and actually featured players from the films. Do not expect to see Pattinson or Stewart, though, unless the community can fork up a ton of cash.

Vashon

Vashon is a community and island in Puget Sound between Seattle and Tacoma. Hidden among the 11,000 residents and lush land are some of the weirdest landmarks in the state. The Vashon Island Bike Tree, located in the woods off Vashon Highway and SW 204 Street, is a bike lodged seven feet up a tree. Allegedly, the natural synthesis of a bicycle abandoned in 1954 and the sapling that grew under it, Bike Tree has had countless visitors and inspired the children's book Red Ranger Came Calling by Berkeley Breathed. Unfortunately, many of the bike's exposed parts have been pilfered. Due north on the same highway is Cool Gary, a statue that is said to pay tribute to a chainsaw-carrying schizophrenic who jumped in front of a car in 1998, though it may simply be a caricature of a typical island resident. When you have vanquished Vashon, hop off to nearby Port Orchard, which is about 50 minutes away and has a fully explorable Hobbit House behind the Brothers Greenhouses. Who needs New Zealand?

Snoqualmie

Snoqualmie has a quirky name and the community to match. Its meaning is contested, but we know that it comes from sdukʷalbixʷ in the Lushootseed language and broadly refers to the area's first peoples, supposedly created by a god named Moon. Today, however, Snoqualmie moonlights are a different town: Twin Peaks, the fictional setting of arguably the quirkiest media franchise in American history. The Twin Peaks TV series and movie Fire Walk with Me were filmed in Snoqualmie. The Great Northern Hotel, where FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper stays while investigating Laura Palmer's murder, is the highly rated Salish Lodge & Spa. The bridge where Laura's friend Ronette is found wandering after Laura's death is the stately Reinig Bridge. And the imposing waterfall shown in the opening credits is 268-foot Snoqualmie Falls. Whether you are a fan of Twin Peaks or not, you are liable to fall for eerily scenic Snoqualmie.

Discover Washington's Wonders Beyond the Quirks

There you have it: rural Washington at its wackiest and niftiest. Now you know there is little to fear from the oddities peppering its highways, forests, beaches, and small towns. Most are explainable, and the ones that are not are beautiful. But they comprise only a single bent pine needle in the Evergreen State.