A house’s ties to the past

POULSBO — The old Eliason house on Pugh Road is a link to Poulsbo’s early immigrant history. But the link was almost lost to obscurity.

In order to understand the historical significance of the home, it is important to first understand the historical significance of those who inhabited it: Jorgen Eliason, considered by many to be the founding father of Poulsbo and one of the area’s first non-native permanent residents.

In the 1880s, Eliason made his way to Poulsbo from Fordefjord, Norway, along with his sister Rakel and his son E.J. Shortly after Eliason’s arrival came Iver B. Moe, of Paulsbo, Norway. In 1886, when Moe felt that the town needed a post office, he filled out an application and decided to name his new home Paulsbo after his former hometown. An error by the Postmaster General in reading Moe’s application led to the town being named Poulsbo.

Eliason carved out a new life in his new hometown, He built up a farm near what is now 6th Avenue in downtown Poulsbo, where he raised dairy cows and sold the milk in town. Across Eliason’s field, the Poulsbo First Lutheran Church could be seen, built on land that he had gifted to the church. Elias “E.J.” Eliason, Jorgen’s son, opened up Eliason’s General Store downtown.

The original Eliason homestead was sold somewhere around 1902 to Cornelius Wagner of Pearson. Wagner died in November 1903 and his wife, Mary, sold the property to Peter J. Burke for $1,100 in gold coins. As time went on, the property changed hands a number of times. According to Jorgen Eliason’s descendants, Arden and David Eliason, the house which originally sat on the property was moved up to Pugh Road sometime around the 1960s.

Here, the house’s story becomes murky; records do not show exactly when the house was moved nor who owned it, but by the time Vidal Hernandez, the current owner, purchased the property around 1991, the old Eliason home had fallen into disrepair.

“It was just empty for a long time,” Hernandez said. Windows were broken; the walls bore graffiti.

Hernandez took it upon himself to restore the house. “I did all the windows myself,” he said. “I did a lot of work on the inside.”

While working in the basement, Hernandez took note of the large, roughly hewn wooden beams holding up the floor.

Each beam “looks almost just like a tree,” he said.

It appeared, Hernandez said, that one of the previous owners decided to try to make a go of farming as well. While clearing out a blackberry thicket behind the house, Hernandez came across the crumbling remains of a barn and what appeared to be rabbit cages. Hernandez noted that the area now has a thriving population of wild rabbits.

Karen Mason has rented the house from Hernandez since November 2009. After she moved in, peculiar things began to happen — like lights, televisions and radios turning on and off by themselves — and Mason suspected that perhaps one of the home’s previous residents never left.

“I was really freaked out,” she said. “It didn’t feel super welcoming.”

She added, “Two of my neighbors that are behind me had talked about seeing white ghosts, or something walk through the property and around the house.”

Despite her early feelings of apprehension, Mason said she loves the house now. “If I could rent it forever, I would,” she said.

Mason said the initial bad vibes were likely due to becoming acquainted with the house: “I think any time there is any type of spirit in a house, I would say they’re probably nervous, too.”

— Nick Twietmeyer is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. Contact him at ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing.com.