Edgemoor
Where Edgemoor sits
Edgemoor is the Bellingham neighborhood just south of Fairhaven, on the wooded ground above Bellingham Bay on one side and Chuckanut Bay on the other. Chuckanut Drive starts more or less at its front door. It is residential, quiet and very green, and it has been one of the most asked-about parts of Bellingham for a long time, mostly because of the lots and the water.
There are no shops in Edgemoor itself, which is part of why people like it. Fairhaven is just to the north and covers the coffee, the bookstore, the restaurants and the train.
The houses and the lots
Lots here are large by Bellingham standards and heavily treed. The houses come from several different decades, from older homes that have been updated more than once to recent custom builds, and a fair number were clearly designed for the particular piece of ground they sit on. Some look out over the water and plenty look at trees, which a lot of owners prefer.
There are a few things we would check before buying in Edgemoor, and the view is the first one. Look at it from the actual windows, and if you can, look at it in winter and again in summer. If it runs through a neighbor’s trees you do not control it, and trees grow.
The ground is the next thing. Parts of Edgemoor are steep and some lots sit on or near a bluff, so drainage and slope stability deserve more attention than they get on a flat city lot. On the right property a geotechnical opinion is money well spent. Big old trees are also hard on roofs, gutters and the sewer line running out to the street, so have the line scoped.
The rail line runs along the shoreline below the neighborhood. You hear it from some streets much more than others, so stand in the yard for a while.
The big lots also tempt people into plans, usually a second building or a lot split, or a much larger house than the one standing there now. Find out what the city will allow on that parcel before you pay for the idea. Derek spends a lot of his time on land and new construction and can usually get that answered early.
Lairmont Manor
Lairmont Manor is the manor house in Edgemoor that people have usually heard of, often because they went to a wedding there. It is an Italian Renaissance style mansion, more than a century old, and these days it works as an estate venue for weddings and other events. Most of the neighborhood is more modest than that, but it tells you what kind of architecture Edgemoor has attracted from the start.
Outdoors and the water
Clark’s Point is the wooded peninsula on the southern edge of Edgemoor, with Bellingham Bay on one side and Chuckanut Bay on the other. Most of the shoreline below the neighborhood is private or too steep to get down, so to put a kayak or a paddle board in the water people go to Marine Park in Fairhaven, or drive a little way down Chuckanut Drive to Wildcat Cove at Larrabee State Park.
For walking and riding, the Interurban Trail heads south from the Fairhaven side toward Chuckanut, and the mountain trails start not far beyond that. The Bayside Swimming Club is in the neighborhood too, with lap swimming and lessons.
Daily life
People walk here, and the streets are quiet enough to make that pleasant. Errands mean Fairhaven, which is close enough that some people go on foot or by bike.
For a dinner out, people here often end up at one of two hotel restaurants on the water, either Keenan’s at the Pier in the Chrysalis Inn just north of Fairhaven, or the Lighthouse Bar and Grill at the Hotel Bellwether on the harbor. Downtown Bellingham is a short drive, and Seattle and the San Juan Islands are both a day trip.
The schools usually listed for Edgemoor are Lowell Elementary, Fairhaven Middle School and Sehome High School. Attendance boundaries change, so check the Bellingham Public Schools map for the specific address.
Who it suits
Edgemoor suits people who want space, trees and quiet, and still want a bookstore and a train station close by. It works well if you have had enough of a small city lot and want some room around you. If you want to walk out the door to a coffee shop every morning, look at Fairhaven or the Southside first.