Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve [1] was established by an act of Congress in 1978 in order "to preserve and protect a rural community which provides an unbroken historic record from nineteenth century exploration and settlement of Puget Sound up to the present time." (Public Law 95-625, November 10, 1978).
The Reserve, a unit of the National Park Service, is the only remaining area in the Puget Sound region where a broad spectrum of Northwest history is clearly visible on the land and protected within a landscape that is lived in and actively farmed. Most of the land remains in private ownership, while retaining its historic, cultural, and rural character.
Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve protects an important part of America's rural character—a cultural landscape of 17,572 acres with operating farms, more than 400 historic buildings, native prairies, two state parks of historic significance, miles of shoreline, a network of hiking and biking trails, and the Town of Coupeville, the second oldest town in the state. The entire Reserve, including the town, is an historic district called the Central Whidbey Island Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.