Sometime in the early 2000s, a North Mason High School student named Travis Merrill put on work gloves and helped cut trail through a scrubby piece of land alongside Sweetwater Creek, just across state Route 3 from the Theler Wetlands in Belfair. He had no way of knowing then that roughly two decades later, he would be the one holding the scissors at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a public park on that same ground.
That moment came on a Friday morning in mid-April 2026. Merrill, now the Executive Director of the Port of Allyn, stood alongside Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group (HCSEG) Director Mendy Harlow and cut the ribbon officially opening Sweetwater Creek Waterwheel Park to the public. The crowd gathered for the ceremony understood why Merrill paused before he spoke.
“This project has been a long time in coming,” he told the crowd.
For many Mason County residents, the story of Sweetwater Creek Waterwheel Park is exactly the kind of story that makes this place feel like home — one where generations overlap, where the same people who grew up here are now the ones investing in its future.
A Park Built on Partnership — and a Generation of Students
The five-acre parcel along Sweetwater Creek has a layered history that stretches back further than most people realize. The property was formerly owned by the North Mason School District, and students at North Mason High School and Belfair Elementary have been part of the site’s story for years. Each spring, Belfair Elementary students release fall chum salmon fry into Sweetwater Creek after raising them in classroom incubators — a program supported by HCSEG’s Salmon in the Library curriculum. North Mason High School students have helped capture adult salmon and move them around the waterwheel as part of hands-on conservation education.
Approximately 100,000 fall chum salmon eggs are placed in incubators on district property each season. The chum fry are raised until they’re ready for release, making Sweetwater Creek one of the most directly classroom-connected salmon streams in Mason County.
When the property was transferred to the Port of Allyn in 2018, the vision expanded. The port owns the land, but the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group — whose offices are at the PNW Salmon Center, 150 NE Roessel Road in Belfair — is leading the development of the park. HCSEG Director Mendy Harlow has managed habitat restoration projects throughout Hood Canal since 2013 and has been a driving force behind turning Sweetwater Creek into both a functioning salmon habitat and a place the entire county can visit.
When completed, the park will include an ADA-accessible interpretive loop trail, a freshwater fishing dock (the only ADA-accessible freshwater fishing access in Mason County), a picnic area with power and water, a natural play area for children, and a restored historic waterwheel with an interpretive center and ADA public facilities. The park officially opened March 31, 2026, with the formal ribbon-cutting ceremony following in April.
Shaped by the Water: Mason County’s Maritime History on Display in Shelton
Fifteen miles south of Sweetwater Creek, in downtown Shelton, another community story is unfolding inside the Mason County Historical Museum at 427 W. Railroad Ave. A new exhibit called “Shaped by the Water: The Maritime History of Mason County” is now on display through August 2026, and it traces the deep, often-forgotten ways that water defined everything about this county — who settled here, how they made their living, and what they named the land around them.
The exhibit walks visitors through the growth of the shellfish industry in Mason County, which for generations was the economic engine that put Allyn, Shelton, and the Hood Canal shoreline communities on the map. It details the early ships of South Puget Sound that carried timber, oysters, and passengers between port communities before roads connected them. And it explains the changing role of Shelton’s waterfront — from active working port to the quieter shoreline the city has today.
For residents of Hoodsport, Union, Grapeview, or Allyn, the exhibit offers something rarely seen: a county-wide lens on the water-dependent history that shaped every community along Hood Canal and South Puget Sound. The 1792 Discovery expedition receives close attention, including how local sites were renamed — Hood Canal for Admiral Samuel Hood of the British Royal Navy, and the inlets of South Puget Sound named for five lieutenants (James Budd, Henry Eld, George Totten, William Case, and Zachary Carr) and midshipman Thomas Hammersley. Those names are on every map of Mason County today.
The Mason County Historical Museum is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum is closed Sundays and Mondays. Admission information is available by calling the museum or visiting in person at 427 W. Railroad Ave., Shelton.
Why These Stories Matter Today
What connects Travis Merrill cutting trail as a teenager in Belfair and a new exhibit tracing Mason County’s maritime roots in Shelton? Both are stories of people and communities taking deliberate stock of where they came from — and deciding it’s worth preserving, celebrating, and passing forward.
Sweetwater Creek Waterwheel Park is the kind of place that Mason County needs more of: publicly accessible, ecologically meaningful, and rooted in the kind of student and community involvement that makes conservation feel personal rather than abstract. When a Belfair Elementary student releases salmon fry into a creek in March and then walks the same ADA trail with her family in summer, something important has happened.
The maritime exhibit in Shelton is a reminder that the water shaping Mason County’s identity didn’t stop flowing in 1792 or 1900 or 1950. Hood Canal is still the reason Hoodsport exists. The shellfish beds still define Allyn and Grapeview. The tides still run through everything.
Residents interested in visiting Sweetwater Creek Waterwheel Park can find it at the intersection of state Route 3 and NE Roessel Road in Belfair, directly across from the Mary E. Theler Wetlands Nature Preserve. The “Shaped by the Water” exhibit runs through August at the Mason County Historical Museum, 427 W. Railroad Ave., Shelton.
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