The Adams Pragge House Bed & Breakfast

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.

—

Movement as Management in a Queen Anne Victorian

03/22/2026

Essay III from The Turret Journal is now published.

This essay traces the life of Julia Yesler Benson Intermela — whose connection to this house had nearly disappeared from the historical record, and whose story emerged only at the very end of a two-year effort to reconstruct its ownership.

Julia Yesler Benson Intermela and the Adams Pragge House

02/22/2026

We’re now on Substack and hope you’ll follow the journey. Here’s our inaugural Post of The Turret Journal

On arrival, placement, and the life of a house built to announce a neighborhood and its aspiration

02/03/2026

There’s something about slipping into one of our spa robes that makes time feel optional. Waffle weave cotton on the outside, soft terry on the inside, and plenty of room to get comfortable

02/02/2026

Thanks for highlighting us, Port Townsend Main Street Program!