Grays Harbor

Grays Harbor is an estuary on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of Washington, located about 70 km north of the mouth of the Columbia River. The lake is about 25 km long and 17 km wide. At the eastern end flows in the city of Aberdeen one of the Chehalis River. Aberdeen is located on the northern shore and the smaller town of Hoquiam joins immediately to the west. Apart from the Chehalis River discharge into the estuary a number of other watercourses, among which the Humptulips River is the most important.

Two low peninsulas separate Grays Harbor from the Pacific Ocean, with the estuary is only connected by a 3.5 km wide opening. The northern peninsula is occupied for the most part by the municipality Ocean Shores. The southernmost point of the peninsula is Point Brown, the Point Chehalis on the northern end of the southern peninsula is opposite. On the southern peninsula is the town of Westport.

Grays Harbor was named by Captain George Vancouver to Robert Gray, who discovered this natural harbor on 7 May 1792 and has traveled with his ship. Gray named the bay originally Bullfinch Harbor, the reports of George Vancouver's explorations in the region - both captains had met only a few days earlier at sea - were unlike Grays travel extensively published and so the name Grays Harbor prevailed. ( A few days later, on May 11, 1792 Gray discovered a navigable channel in the estuary of the Columbia River and Gray was the first white man who drove into it. )