Port Townsend Peace Movement members and friends take part in International Answer's Seattle peace march on October 26, 2002.

Port Townsend, Washington, is a lovely small town of 8,500 souls nestled on the cliffs overlooking Puget Sound and the Cascade and Olympic Mountain ranges. We live in paradise, but we also live at Ground Zero, right across the bay from a U.S. Navy munitions facility. Trident submarines and all manner of naval vessels are a regular sight here.

In October of 2002, as our country geared up to invade Iraq, a handful of people got together to plan actions demonstrating opposition to our government’s impending illegal pre-emptive war and to voice our desire for peace. On Sunday, October 27th, with little more than a week’s notice, over 800 local residents turned out at Memorial Field for what became the first Port Townsend Peace Portrait.

Marches, vigils, speakers, films and other educational events soon followed, and over the years we have brought information and dialogues about peace to our community and beyond through a broad range of projects and actions.

In November and December of 2002, PTPM members developed a document to articulate the “core values” of our group. This document is our Group Culture Statement.

Today we are organized into several standing committees and have branched into sub-groups with specific purposes like education, lobbying, and focusing public attention on the dangers we are exposed to by the Naval munitions base at Indian Island. We also support local and regional affiliates working for peace (see Get Involved).