[6] On May 16, 1841, Captain Charles Wilkes of the expedition ordered Lieutenant Augustus Case to take four boats and survey the Hood Canal.

Wilkes wrote of the strait: Hoods Canal branches off from Admiralty Inlet at Suquamish Head, where it is two miles wide.

Harbor on the east then southwest, three miles to Triton Head ...[7]Seabeck was founded in 1856 by Marshall Blinn[8] and William Adams,[9] doing business as the Washington Mill Company.

In 1914, the old townsite was purchased by Laurence Colman and revived as a retreat for Puget Sound's YMCA & YWCA clubs, and eventually all non-profit groups.

[12] Under the direction of William J. Adams, the Washington Mill Company undertook the role of a shipyard, constructing vessels for a brief period of time in the late 1800s.

[2] In the early 1900s, Laurence Colman and Arn Allen of Seattle formed a partnership to build a facility for YMCA and YWCA groups to hold summer conferences.

For over thirty years, the Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind has held its annual retreat there, hosting deaf-blind visitors from across the nation and world.

[16] In 2021 the newly formed Seabeck Community Center began operations on the site, using the renovated school-gym building, and featuring a farmers' market during the summer months.

[18] The 88-acre (36 ha) Scenic Beach State Park in the western part of the CDP began as the Emel family's homesite in 1911.

[19] The 158-acre (64 ha) Kitsap County Guillemot Cove Nature Reserve is 6 miles (10 km) southwest of Seabeck and was the property of the Reynolds family from 1939 to 1993.