About the Lantern
The Quilcene Lantern is a proudly family-owned and operated business. Every piece of the property has been lovingly cared for with our own hands, and we can’t wait to share it with others. While the land has had many different stewards over the years, it has always been a place of nourishment for the community, through food, music, camaraderie, and connection. We look forward to building upon that legacy for many years to come.
When we moved onto the property in January, 2024, the place was imbued with its own magic: gently rolling pasture and the ever-meandering Tarboo Creek; towering trees in patches of forest teeming with life; the original farmhouse and numerous cabins that had housed so many people over decades upon decades; and the magnificent barn, handbuilt by the Iseri family and still reverberating with the echoes of Alan Iglitzin’s Concerts in the Barn. But there was also much work to be done. Many areas of landscape were overgrown with blackberries, the cabins hadn’t been updated in decades, and septic systems were in need of improvement.
We got right to work, Steve spending hours in AutoCAD sketching out his vision for the renovations, Bergen using his camera skills to document all of the spaces as they were, Laurie working with the state and county to obtain a business license and all of the proper permitting, Willem booking out the venue with music programming for the forthcoming summer, and all of us strapping on our tool bags and powering up the table saw to build what needed to be built.
Farm Fam
Steve
The entirety of Steve’s professional life culminates here at the Quilcene Lantern. An architect, a builder, an inventor, a tinkerer, Steve is living his dream come true. His unique and varied skill set ensures that he will see our bold vision for this property through to a beautiful reality. Having spent the last 3 decades surfing, camping and hiking on the Olympic Peninsula with his family, he is thrilled to now call it his home.
Laurie
A long-time youth arts advocate and an established nonprofit leader, Laurie brings her entrepreneurial spirit, her love of music, and her predilection for big mountains and towering forests to this project. Laurie is excited to grow Quilcene Lantern into an organization that’s grounded in community and that centers inclusivity, kindness, and joy. She truly can’t believe her good fortune that her grown sons have chosen to go into business with her. She also loves driving her tractor and mowing endless acres of grass.
Willem
Willem’s love for music started when he picked up a guitar in 5th grade. That initial spark has led to over 2 decades of music-making and touring the world with bands like The Westerlies and Fleet Foxes. He understands how necessary it is for artists to have a space to unwind, create, and connect, and is excited to make the Quilcene Lantern a place where artists thrive.
Bergen
Bergen is a super good carpenter, camera guy, and businessman. He really shreds at surfing, and likes to hangout with his family and girlfriend Hannah.
Tamsin
Tamsin works as a kid's therapist at Jumping Mouse, and splits her work between Brinnon, Chimacum, and Port Townsend. When she’s not in the playroom, Tamsin provides logistical and food support for the Quilcene Lantern. Catch her on the property learning to garden, exploring with Bella, or testing cookie recipes.
Hannah
Hannah is an enthusiastic outdoor educator with a passion for the Olympic mountains. Originally from Wisconsin, she has called the Olympic Peninsula home for four wonderful years. She is so excited and grateful to be involved in the logistics and safety planning for the Lantern’s first music festival. Catch her playing with Bella and Walter, going on forest walks with her partner Bergen, managing the first aid station at Tarboo Fest, and geeking out about subalpine meadows.
Grace
Grace (AKA “Chainsaw Grace”) is just one of the best humans you’ll ever meet. They first came to the Olympic Peninsula for the Washington Conservation Corps and fell in love with natural resource work. Grace is the Lantern’s resident landscape expert and audiophile :)
Tessa
Tessa is an absolute photography slayer and makes the best cocktails ever. She specializes in social media management, marketing, and event production.
Bella
Bella didn't know that life could get this good. She spends her days munching on grass, requesting snuggles, and showing off her big muscles. She is currently working on resolving her snack entitlement complex.
History
The site of the Quilcene Lantern has been a home to many different humans, creatures, and plantlife for time immemorial. As the latest tenders of this land, we are eager to continue to educate ourselves about its past, so that we may better tell its story today. We are privileged to have the opportunity to care for this place, and to share with you what we know about its history:
The Quilcene Lantern is located on the ancestral lands of the T’wana and Chemakum people.
The land was homesteaded by the Iseri family in the early 20th century. The Iseris, who immigrated from Japan, successfully operated a dairy, berry, and vegetable farm on the land, and built the magnificent barn (which now serves our primary venue) in 1935.
After the onset of World War II, the Iseri family was forcibly incarcerated under Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. The US government seized the land, divided it up into several parcels, and sold it. The Iseri family did not receive any of the proceeds of the sale; dismayed at the unjust seizure and loss of everything they had built, they decided to return to Japan after the war.
The land changed human hands several times in the decades following World War II, and much of the infrastructure that the Iseri’s built fell into disrepair.
Alan Iglitzin, violist of the Philadelphia String Quartet, purchased the land in 1976, and set about restoring the Iseri’s barn and farmhouse for use as a summer home and rehearsal space for his string quartet. Iglitzin founded the Olympic Music Festival in 1984, filling the barn with classical music and enthusiastic audiences. Now known as “Concerts in the Barn,” Iglitzin’s concert series continues to this day, and we are happy to be hosting them at The Lantern this summer.
An original inscription by the Iseri family in 1935 when the barn and milkshed were completed.
A photograph of the original Iseri farmhouse paired with what it looks like today.
