Shelton's beginning

David Shelton and his family took up residence in Sawamish - now Mason - County in 1853. They built their first home at the edge of Big Skookum (Oakland) Bay, approximately where the Shelton Yacht Club is today, and the area became known as Shelton's Point. Most new arrivals were settling at Oakland, approximately halfway between Shelton's Point and what is now Bayshore, which had been officially designated as the county seat; however, a small community began to form at the Point.

By 1879, David and his wife, Francis, owned 900 acres, some in Cota Valley and some on the prairie north of the va...