Longbranch

At the end of the rainbow, you’ll find a pot of gold. At the end of Key Peninsula, you’ll find Longbranch and its golden shores. Longbranch rests just west of Tacoma, across a network of inlets, passages and bays flowing from Puget Sound against an eternity of painted-on sunrises and waterfront serenity. “I think the solitude is one of the reasons people come here,” says Dave Walker, a Realtor with eXp Realty who has been selling homes out this way for nearly three decades. “It’s kind of a sleepy community out here. Just kind of a quiet place on the peninsula, where you know your neighbors because you have to because you rely on each other.”

The community keeps it simple – a grocery store, a church, a marina with boat fuel. Life is situated around the water as it has been back to the glory days when the waterways transported harvested timber out. “The main draw for the whole area is the water. You’re surrounded by it,” Walker says. Nearness to the waterfront may give clues to when your home was built. “There are a lot of small and medium-sized homes on the water because those houses are a little bit older.

Fewer than 5,000 residents means there’s enough land to allow folks breathing room. You’re as likely to drive stretches of isolated roads to reach your neighbor as you are to see them across the street. “You have some gated communities. There are some waterfront communities out at the end of the point. You may get 15 houses built down a gravel road that’s not even paved,” Walker says.

This is one of those places where a home’s view matters nearly as much as its build. Newer homes tend toward traditional two-stories and ramblers set on slabs ranging in size from around 2,000 to 3,000 square feet. The better your view, the more you'll spend. “If you have a view of the water, you’ll pay a premium,” Walker says. The median sale price for a home here is around $500,000. “$450,000 to $550,000 is kind of our entry-level. You don't find many down in the $300,000s anymore,” Walker explains.

Longbranch students attend schools in the Peninsula School District, which Niche rates A-minus. They enroll in Evergreen Elementary School, Key Peninsula Middle School and Peninsula High School. Niche rates each school B-plus and ranks the high school among the best in Washington. Peninsula High offers advanced placement-level courses in calculus, chemistry, human geography, physics, psychology, statistics, U.S. history and world history.

When it comes to parks and recreational spaces, it doesn’t get much better than in Longbranch. Joemma Beach State Park on the peninsula’s southwestern bank. It’s a 122-acre park with 3,000 feet of saltwater shoreline and spaces for picnics and camping, plus a boatload of water activities and sports, including fishing, waterskiing and crabbing. For an equally pleasant outdoor experience, Penrose Point State Park is on the peninsula’s opposite shore and offers similar options on more than 2 miles of saltwater shoreline. There are 2.5 miles of hiking, biking and nature trails and plenty of opportunities for swimming, scuba diving, fishing and birdwatching.

While wide open spaces are right there at your fingertips, dining and shopping are a whole different story. Though you’ll find a local store north in Home, the community above Longbranch, or a pub here or there, the bulk of food spots and retail and grocery shopping are about 20 miles or so away in Gig Harbor. That’s about a 35-minute trip to your familiar chain restaurants like Applebee’s or to regional chains like Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant & Tequila Bar. Given the distance, it’s probably a good idea to fit in your shopping at Costco or Metropolitan Market maybe. You’ll see your favorite retail shops along the way, even an Imax movie theater. From Gig Harbor, you’re just across the bridge from Tacoma, which is where residents travel to most events and upgrade their entertainment and shopping experiences. Either way, you’re traveling back home up Route 16, across Route 2, then south on the Key Peninsula Highway, the main thoroughfare taking you down into the peninsula. Driving is your only option to reach this scenic haven.

Written By

Jonathan Clarke

Photography Contributed By

William King

Video By

Dan Mack