Port Blakely Companies

The story of Port Blakely Companies began in 1864 when Nova Scotia sea captain William Renton opened a sawmill at Port Blakely Harbor on Bainbridge Island, Washington. The sheltered harbor and deep water made it an ideal location to mill and ship lumber. Over the decades, the Port Blakely;mill flourished, becoming at one point the world’s largest sawmill under one roof. Eventually the company evolved into one of the largest family owned tree farms in America, with hundreds of thousands of acres spread across the Cascades and in New Zealand. In the process, Port Blakely became a model of how a family organization should be run while developing innovative new ideas in forest stewardship.