The Adams Pragge House Bed & Breakfast

06/22/2026

New from The Turret Journal:

In 1906, Port Townsend completed one of the most ambitious public works projects in its history: a gravity-fed water system bringing mountain water from Snow Creek into the city.

The man most responsible for making it happen was Charles E. C**n.

Before arriving in Port Townsend, C**n had served as Acting Secretary of the United States Treasury, managed federal bond conversions measured in the hundreds of millions, and held one of the highest financial offices in the country.

This essay explores how he came west, why the city trusted him, and the project that still reaches every home in Port Townsend today.

Link in 1st comment.

06/01/2026

One of the most surprising things about stewarding a historic house is discovering how many stories remain hidden in plain sight.

Charles E. C**n spent his final years at what is now the Adams Pragge House. He had been a Civil War veteran, four-time mayor of Port Townsend, Lieutenant Governor of Washington, and Acting Secretary of the U.S. Treasury -- and during his lifetime was one of the most well known men in the city and the state.

Yet today, he's almost invisible in public memory.

This Turret Journal essay explores the life of a former resident whose story led to larger questions about memory, history, and the names a town keeps.

He was a Civil War veteran, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, Lieutenant Governor of Washington, and four-time mayor of Port Townsend. Yet the name that survived was Charlie.

05/26/2026

We moved in on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Four years later, we are still learning the house.

New from The Turret Journal:
“Four Years”

https://turretjournal.adamspraggehouse.com/p/four-years

05/25/2026

Four years ago today, we moved into the Adams Pragge House.
The house has been teaching us ever since.

What Remains: On Care and Stewardship
from The Turret Journal

https://turretjournal.adamspraggehouse.com/p/what-remains-on-care-and-stewardship

05/21/2026

A house like this is never really finished.

The newest essay from The Turret Journal explores stewardship, restoration, succession, and the layered life of the Adams Pragge House — including leaking pipes, failed windows, hidden wallpaper, unfinished repairs, and the ongoing work of carrying an old house forward through time.

*What Remains: On Care and Stewardship*

https://turretjournal.adamspraggehouse.com/p/what-remains-on-care-and-stewardship

05/05/2026

The city is blooming and the Rhododendron Festival is near.

A new essay from The Turret Journal:

The Revealing Season
On spring and the climate that made Port Townsend bloom—and boom.

https://theturretjournal.substack.com/p/revealing-season-port-townsend

04/07/2026

Essay IV of The Turret Journal is now live.

This one turns inward — into the structure of the house itself. Not just how it looks, but how it moves. How rooms connect, separate, and insist on their own boundaries. How a house organizes a life inside it.

Victorian houses were not designed for openness.
They were designed for sequence.

This essay traces that sequence — through stairs, thresholds, and the logic of doors that close.

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Movement as Management in a Queen Anne Victorian