"... The original Indian name was Atsmitl a Chehalis tribal designation. In the period of Spanish exploration, it was charted as Ensenada de Mal Arrimo by Jose Martinez de Zayas. Early settlers and oyster harvesters used the name South Bay, as suggested by James Swan. On July 5, 1788, Capt. John Meares, a British fur trader, named it, very appropriately, Shoalwater Bay. Dislike of that name resulted in a switch to the present name, which is for the Whilapa Indian tribe, which lived around the bay when the first white explorers arrived. ..."

From Larry J. Weathers in The Sou'wester (1989, Pacific County Historical Society and Museum):

"... FORT WILLAPA: A stockade built by residents of the Willapa Valley in 1855 when fear of Indian attacks swept the Northwest. The site, now known as Giesy's Crossing on Highway 6, was at the north end of the valley and overlooked the Willapa River. Three small buildings surrounded by a stockade wall (with guard house on top) were built to protect the settlers. The time of fear passed and the fort was never used for defense purposes. For several years afterward it was a community meeting place or housed new families moving into the valley. The stockade was sometimes known as "Fort Giesy" because it was on land taken as Donation Land Claims by the John and Henry Giesy families. Eventually the stockade fell into disrepair and the Giesy family built their home on the site. A post office was established at the fort April 29, 1858, and continued until December 7, 1870, when the office was moved to Woodard's Landing. The tree shaded knoll near the fort site is the gravesite of Willie Keil and members of the Keil Colony and Giesy family. An historical roadside marker on Highway 6 tells the story of possibly the longest burial processional in history. ..."