What first struck me about Harmony by the Bay is that it is located in an old house, which turns out to be a historic location. The proprietor, Katherine Klint, was sitting outside on the porch and explained to us the history. The Blue House, as it is called today, is also known as the New York House, and it was the first location of the town doctor in Port Gamble's youth. It also served as the hospital for the area until one was built closer to the mill later on.
The store is broken down in to 3 main rooms designated by color and also known as the house's original desgination or use. First on the left is the green room, also known as the Parlor. Although the entire store is interspersed with the full variety and range of colorful inventory, here is where you will find the main candle display and lots of little tea pieces.
The second room is the Khaki room, also known as the Dining Room. This room has a corner display with a plethra of rustic hardbound books like The Virginian by Owen Wister and Lusty Wind for Carolina by Inglis Fletcher, to name just a couple. There are also historical books and books of prose and poetry (I love books, so this was a fun stop on the tour for me).
The main room is the Blue Room, also known as the original Kitchen, and this room is where I found a myriad of dazzling pieces of jewelry, lamps, mirrors, hats, bells, purses, fiesta ware, buttons, bags and many other doo-dads. I spent a lot of time in this room. Oh, and don't forget to ask about the bamboo clothing! That is REALLY great.
The tibetan prayer flags that I originally sought for my mother were reasonably priced (especially compared to other stores in Kitsap County). In addition to the tibetan flags Katherine showed us several other tibetan pieces including singing bells and a singing bowl made from precious metals.
Katherine also demonstrated for us how the singing bowl works. Resting the singing bowl on one open palm with fingers outstretched, she firmly thumped the side of the bowl with her other wrist in which hand she held a thick, round wooden dowel. The impact created a soft, low pitch sound. She then ran the wooden dowel around the edge, and as she continued to do so the low pitch became louder until the whole room was filled with a warm ringing sound that was very relaxing (this piece is used in meditation).
I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to Harmony by the Bay, and I highly recommend this store to anyone, not just antique hunters or lovers of the exotic. The prices are moderate, the service is great, and the energy is sublime!
Plus, we were able to get someting to eat at the General Store after we were done with our purchases. Had we had more time there were lot's of things we could have filled our day with! (fruit stand, espresso, general store, museum, art gallery, full service salon, book store... and more!).
June 19th update
Harmony by the Bay has a myspace page now:
http://www.myspace.com/harmonybythebay read more
