Abandoned Towns

Living community · San Juan County, Washington

Roche Harbor

John S. McMillin's lime-company town of 1886 on the northwest tip of San Juan Island, sold in 1956 and turned into a boating resort.

48°36′37″N 123°07′40″W
Living community

Roche Harbor is a living resort community of 662 people (2020 census), not a ghost town. The old lime company town is now a year-round village with a hotel, a marina, restaurants, a post office (ZIP 98250) and a U.S. port of entry.

The label

Why Roche Harbor is called a ghost town

Roche Harbor is in a long-running ghost town directory, which calls it a semi-ghost with many original buildings. The label comes from its life as a company town. For seventy years the Tacoma and Roche Harbor Lime Company owned everything here, from the kilns and wharf to the workers' cottages, the church, the store and the school, and the town ended as a company town when the McMillin family sold it in 1956. What survives is the company's town, so a visitor walks among buildings from the lime years. Roche Harbor is not on Wikipedia's list of ghost towns in Washington.

History

Roche Harbor then

The harbor was part of a Coast Salish community before settlers came. British Royal Marines quarried and burned limestone here during the joint occupation of the San Juan Islands, and the place is named for Lt. Richard Roche, a British naval officer who scouted the area. After the boundary dispute was settled for the United States in 1872, the land passed through several owners until the Tacoma lawyer John S. McMillin and his partners founded the Tacoma and Roche Harbor Lime Company in 1886.

McMillin built the Hotel de Haro, where his family lived until 1910, and a company town around it: cottages for workers, a church, a general store, a post office, a school, gardens and a farm. Kilns burned the quarried limestone, and the company's ships carried lime down the West Coast, including to San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. Members of the McMillin family are interred at Afterglow Vista, a mausoleum near the harbor. McMillin died in 1936. In 1956 his son Paul sold the town, its 4,000 acres and 12 miles of shoreline to the Reuben J. Tarte family, who made it a boating resort. The Tartes sold it in 1988 to Verne Howard and Rich Komen.

1886. John S. McMillin founds the Tacoma and Roche Harbor Lime Company and builds a company town.

1889–1891. William F. Boyd photographs the harbor and a wharf.

1906. Roche Harbor lime goes to rebuild San Francisco after the earthquake.

1936. McMillin dies.

1956. Paul McMillin sells the town to the Tarte family, who turn it into a boating resort.

1988. The Tartes sell Roche Harbor to Verne Howard and Rich Komen.

2013. A concrete foundation is placed under the Hotel de Haro.

2020. Census: 662, the first count of Roche Harbor as a census-designated place.

Today

What is there now

The Hotel de Haro above the marina gangway, October 24, 2024
The Hotel de Haro above the marina gangway, October 24, 2024 · Photo: Chris Light, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Roche Harbor is a census-designated place of 662 people (2020) and, in Wikipedia's words, a year-round community with new neighborhoods of Craftsman-style homes. The company town's buildings are still in use: the Hotel de Haro, the general store, the workers' cottages (now rented to guests), McMillin's Dining Room in the family's former house, and several preserved kilns. The resort's website, read October 29, 2026, lists lodging, a marina, three waterfront restaurants, a spa and activities from kayaking to whale watching. The harbor is a U.S. port of entry, with a customs dock staffed in summer. Photos from October 2024 show the hotel, the Company Store, Quarryman Hall and shops along the wharf. Homes in the new neighborhoods are private; the village, the gardens and the wharf are where visitors walk.

Historic maps

Roche Harbor on USGS maps, 1981

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the map point. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Roche Harbor, 1981
Roche Harbor sheet, 1981, 1:100,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Roche Harbor is on the northwest tip of San Juan Island, 8.7 miles by road from Friday Harbor. The island has no bridge: Washington State Ferries serve Friday Harbor, and there are seaplane and air services. Boaters can clear customs at the Roche Harbor dock.

USGS topographic map of San Juan Island from Friday Harbor northwest to Roche Harbor, with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL). Times assume dry roads.

From Friday Harbor8.7 miabout 18 min
  1. From Second Street South in Friday Harbor, follow 2nd Street and Guard Street, then turn right onto Tucker Avenue.0.7 mi
  2. Tucker Avenue becomes Roche Harbor Road; follow it across the island.6.9 mi
  3. Turn right onto Rouleau Road, then left and sharp right into the village.1.1 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and visiting notes

  • San Juan Island is reached by Washington State Ferries to Friday Harbor, by seaplane or by plane.
  • Homes in Roche Harbor's neighborhoods are private property.

Photos

Roche Harbor in photos

Questions

Common questions

Is Roche Harbor a ghost town?

No. It is a living resort community of 662 people (2020 census) with a hotel, a marina, restaurants and a post office. Ghost town lists mean the old lime company town, whose buildings are still in use.

Can you visit Roche Harbor?

Yes. It is a resort open to visitors, 8.7 miles by road from the Friday Harbor ferry landing. The resort's website lists lodging, marina slips and restaurants.

What is left of the lime works?

Several kilns are preserved, and the Hotel de Haro, the Company Store and the workers' cottages still stand in use. The 1981 USGS map marks the quarry beside Wescott Bay.

Nearby

Ghost towns and sites near Roche Harbor

Straight-line distance to other mapped sites in our Washington index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Roche Harbor, Washington", read October 29, 2026: the Coast Salish community, the British Marines and their lime works, Lt. Richard Roche, the 1872 settlement and owners, McMillin and the 1886 company, the hotel and company town, the 1906 earthquake, Afterglow Vista, the 1956 and 1988 sales, the year-round community, the buildings in use, the 2013 foundation, the port of entry, the 2020 census, ZIP 98250, the coordinates.
  2. ghosttowns.com, "Roche Harbor", read October 29, 2026: the ghost town listing, semi-ghost with many original buildings, McMillin's death in 1936, the company town turned resort.
  3. Wikipedia, "List of ghost towns in Washington", read October 29, 2026: Roche Harbor not listed.
  4. Roche Harbor Resort, read October 29, 2026: lodging, marina, three waterfront restaurants, spa and activities.
  5. Wikipedia, "San Juan Island", read October 29, 2026: Washington State Ferries to Friday Harbor, seaplane and air service.
  6. Historic map: USGS Roche Harbor 1:100,000 (1981).
  7. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits