In this week’s episode, we get into one of our favorite Bellingham true-crime stories, an unsolved mystery and murder of a local butcher. The victim was Frederick Dames, a civil war veteran who opened a meat market on Elk Street (now State Street) where he was found brutally murdered in 1905… Content warning for extremely gruesome descriptions of this particularly heinous murder.

While doing some research for the Horseshoe Café, I recently found myself sidetracked into the world of the Barnum and Bailey circus on their visit to Bellingham in 1908.  As a fan-girl of old-timey performers of the vaudeville and circus scenes, it was fairly easy to do….  Since today is the anniversary of the arrival of the Barnum and Bailey Circus in Bellingham #onthisday in 1908, I thought I’d share…

We’re excited to announce this opportunity to get outside and get some FREE Belling-history this summer with three guided historical tours in partnership with the Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department.

Good Time Girl guides will lead three different historical walking tours based around Maritime Heritage Park and Whatcom Creek!

We wanted to share a fun little piece of boozy Belling-history from our collection – a little booklet from 1953: “Hints for the Home Bar” from the Pastime restaurant and lounge… 

Given that much of the subject matter on our tours involves lawbreaking folks, we have always been particularly interested in the jail, and in particular the experiences of women in the legal system. On our Downtown Sin and Gin Tours, we discuss the creation of the women’s ward in the jail, and the hiring of female wardens. In case you can’t get enough jail fun facts, here’s a sampler of some jail history from our notes.