Editor,

It is with great regret that we must announce the failure of our campaign to acquire the 1866 Haller House and transform it into Washington’s first Territorial Heritage Center.

Our efforts, begun in the fall of 2012, have, sadly, not achieved the desired outcome.

As we approached the final closing on the purchase of the house, we were unable to negotiate final unforeseen details to the satisfaction of both buyer and seller.

The chain of events and circumstances that led to this is very complex, and this communiqué is a poor platform to recount it.

We realize that many in our community believed we had already acquired the house, but a closer re-reading of our announcements and the newspaper articles will reveal that even after we raised enough money to qualify to apply for a state grant, we still faced the grant screening process and closing obstacles. We apologize for that misconception.

We hope at the very least that we have been able to raise public awareness, not only about this extremely significant house and its builder, but also about Washington’s territorial period and Coupeville’s extraordinary legacy of architectural survivors of that era.

To those of you who value Whidbey’s incomparable heritage, we hope you will not lose heart, and will find renewed energy to advocate for all the threatened homes, public buildings, blockhouses and wharves that give our community its rich character.

At our fundraiser at the Crockett Barn in January of this year, we launched a final push in our acquisition campaign in which we promised that all donations from that point forward would be returned if we failed to purchase the house.

That sad day has come. We request your patience as we prepare to return all these funds within the next month. Thanks to the number of supporters we have, we will need to order more checks. If you do not need your donation returned, please let us know.

It will help us regroup to engage in further preservation efforts. Remember that your donations remain tax-deductible.

On behalf of the board of directors of Historic Whidbey, I would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to everyone who helped propel our cause — whether with donations and pledges, volunteer time, spreading the word, or simple emotional support. We are most grateful to have had you on our team.

Lynn Hyde, president

Board of directors

Historic Whidbey