Thurston County is a vibrant and healthy community with its seat of government in the city of Olympia which is also the capital of the state. It is located at the south end of Puget Sound about 60 miles south of Seattle and 100 miles north of Portland. The eighth largest county in the state, it encompasses 727 square miles. In addition to Olympia, the primary communities are Tumwater and Lacey. All communities are business friendly with very stable economies. Residents enjoy panoramic views of Mount Rainier, the Olympic Mountains, South Puget Sound waterfront, outdoor recreation, a vibrant independent music scene and a burgeoning cottage art industry.

Sixty miles south of Seattle, on the shores of south Puget Sound, rests Washington’s capital city, Olympia. For hundreds of years before the coming of the whites, the region was occupied by the Nisqually and Suquamish people. First settled by the newcomers in 1846, the city was named, incorporated and after a fierce battle between competing communities was designated the capital of the new Washington Territory. In 1854 Governor Stevens, residing in Olympia, moved quickly to establish agreements with the indigenous tribes in the Territory signing 10 treaties in 13 months with over 100 groups. Logging and timber products, coal mining, and farming drove the economy and the natural harbor the transportation link to get those products to market. Over the next decades telephones, electricity and a city water system were added. The State Capitol Campus was built and by the 1950s Olympia had mostly assumed its current characteristics of a capital city.