Col. Walter Crockett, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a Virginia politician, decided to join with the Ebey family and moved his family west in the late 1830s. The Crocketts followed the Oregon trail and finally settled in Central Whidbey in 1851, taking a land claim and building their dream farm.

More than 150 years later, Bob and Beulah Whitlow have also become part of the farm’s history. Since buying it in 1984, they both preserved and transformed the site. After remodeling the farm house, which had become dilapidated, they ran a bed and breakfast for years, hosting approximately 23,000 guests, including several movie stars.

The husband and wife have extensive knowledge of the farm’s legacy, partly sketched out from talks with relatives of the Crocketts and other families who have lived there. They love showing off their six-bedroom, six-bathroom home and giant barn to visitors; they can easily fill a lazy afternoon with stories about the farm’s past.

“When you have something like this,” Bob said, “the fun is sharing it.”

This Saturday, anyone can visit the Crockett Farm as part of Island County Historical Society Museum’s 12th annual Prairie Home and Barn Tour. Seven historic barns and homes are on the self-guided tour throughout Ebey’s Landing Historical Reserve and Central Whidbey.

April Peterson, the chairperson for the tour, said the purpose of the program is to highlight some of the historically significant farms, homes and businesses on the island. It’s also the museum’s biggest fund raiser of the summer.

This is the second year in a row that the Crockett farm is on the program.

“Everyone in the community wanted it back,” Peterson said. “It’s a crowd favorite.”

Numerous elements at the farm will interest history buffs as well as general audiences. It’s located on a prairie above Crockett Lake and has amazing views of Admiralty Bay, Fort Casey, Keystone Ferry and the Olympic Mountains.

There is a room in which a son of Col. Crockett killed himself, which eventually created a gaping hole in floor where the blood seeped; a 150-year-old holly tree planted by Samuel Hancock, an early settler and Col. Crockett’s son-in-law; a slate fireplace facade that was stolen and miraculously recovered; lanterns in the barn fueled by methane from pig manure; a field of daffodils; a photo collection of some Crockett family descendants; and bedrooms where Danny Devito, Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas slept.

For the Whitlows, their part of the story begins Aug. 12, 1984, when they were living in Seattle and came to a salmon bake on Whidbey. They went for a drive and came upon the farm. Four hours later, they made a successful offer to buy it.

It was the realization of an impossible-sounding dream.

“We always said when we retire we are going to run a bed and breakfast. We wanted it to be historic, have a saltwater view, be in the rain shadow and on an island you can drive off of,” Bob said.

Fixing the broken-down structures on the farm took more time and money than the couple could have ever realized. While preserving the historical value of the 4,000-square-foot house, they transformed it into a immaculate and beautifully-decorated B & B. The projects included adding bathrooms, electrical wiring, insulation, plumbing and putting on a new roof. While Beulah did the Victorian-era interior decorating, Bob was in charge of furniture.

“Putting it all together was such a life experience,” Bob said. “It was a lot of work, but we got to do our dream.”

In addition to the house, the farm has one of the five remaining block houses on the island. Peterson explained that the settlers built the protective log structures mainly during the Indian Wars of 1856. While the Native Americans on Whidbey were friendly — and taught settlers to grow camas bulbs — Peterson said tribes came from the north to take the island’s Native Americans as slaves.

According to Bob, the 1895 horse barn was one of the finest in the state when it was built. The 75-foot by 50-foot structure could hold 410 tons of baled hay on the top level. There were “hay drops” built into the floor so that bales could be dropped to the horse stalls below.

“It’s a fabulously-built building,” he said. “There’s nothing else like it on the island.”

Bob said the barn was so fancy that it was lit with methane-fueled lanterns built in the walls. The methane was piped in from a structure that held pig manure through gas line that went to the horse stalls.

“Can you imagine what it was like with the room aglow from the gas lamps illuminating all the beautiful horses?” Bob said. “It must have been amazing.”

Over the years, the Whitlows have been able to trace the habitation of the farm. After Col. Crockett and his wife Mary died, Walter Crockett, Jr., took over the farm. He died in 1905, after which there were several short-term owners until the Armstrong family bought the farm in 1917. The Armstrongs lived on the farm until it was sold to a Canadian family in the 1970s.

According to Bob and Beulah, the farm house was rented out to a local man and became a refuge for hippies and people on the down-and-out until they came along and purchased it.

After running the bed and breakfast for about 18 years, the Whitlows finally grew weary of the work and closed it last fall. But now that they’ve made their mark on Whidbey Island history, the couple is ready to move on and plan on selling the farm. It’s simply too big for the Whitlows to care for.

Without a doubt, the couple will miss their dream house.

“Living here is absolutely the most wonderful experience you could ever have,” Bob said. “Every day we walk though this house is a joy.”

Drive through history

Saturday, July 31, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., enjoy a drive along back roads on Whidbey Island during the annual Prairie Home and Barn Tour sponsored by the Island County Historical Society Museum.

View and visit selected historic farms and buildings located throughout Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve and Central Whidbey Island. Bring a picnic lunch and your camera as photo-op locations will be posted throughout the route.

Tickets are $15 per person and are available at the museum. This fee includes admission to the museum and a tour map. For information, please call 678-3310.

In addition to the Crockett farm, this year’s tour includes:

l Chuck Arnold’s Barn in Coupeville is one of the most beautifully preserved barns on the island. It is situated on a bluff right above Highway 20 on Arnold Road.

l Krueger Farm is the last remaining farm in what was once a patchwork quilt of small, pioneer homesteads. This cultural and historical landscape retains the rural integrity of the 1850s settlement that is the center of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve.

l Greenbank Cellars, once known as the Old Day Farm, is a small winery located in the heart of the island. Inside the rarely seen, turn-of-the-century barn is an antique bar, stone floor and a display of unique nickelodeons, a Wurlitzer Piano Orchestra from 1904 that is one of only two in the world, and a restored 1925 one-ton Chevy pick-up truck. None of these items have ever been seen before by the public. Also on the property is a gallery featuring an exhibit by artist Betty Rayle.

l Greenbank Farm was once one of the world’s largest loganberry vineyards. Today, its wine shop features their private label loganberry wine. This year it is celebrating its centennial anniversary.

l Hidden Valley Farm on Highway 525 was built after World War II when building materials were scarce and island population was beginning to increase. The Tinius family, all 11 of them, were crammed into the original house which was not much more than a three-room barn dating back to the early 1900s. When the old Greenbank schoolhouse came up for sale, Mr. Tinius bought the building, disassembled it and used the materials to build a a new home.

l Morris Farm, established in 1909, is positioned in the heart of Whidbey Island and currently is open to the public as one of the island’s most popular bed and breakfast establishments. The farm is host to state politicians, celebrities and mainlanders looking for a relaxing retreat.

During the summer the museum, which is on Alexander Street in Coupeville, is open every day except Tuesdays from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. For further information about the Island County Historical Society Museum, call 678-3310 or visit the Web site at www.islandhistory.org.