Union is a small, unincorporated community on the southern shore of Hood Canal, in the portion of Mason County, Washington, where the canal makes its Great Bend near the mouth of the Skokomish River. It sits on the Olympic Peninsula, with the forested slopes of the Olympic Mountains rising behind it and the sheltered waters of the canal spreading out to the north. With only a couple hundred residents, it is far more a village and resort destination than a town. The community's history reaches back to the Twana people and the early settlers who called the spot Skokomish before it was renamed Union City in 1889, when lumberman and developer John McReavy sought to celebrate Washington's entry into the union. His ambitions for a grand canal-side city never fully materialized, but the settlement endured as a small waterfront outpost, and its early buildings and history remain part of its character. Today Union is best known for the Alderbrook Resort and Spa, a long-established waterfront property with a golf club, marina, and dining, set on a protected cove that is ideal for swimming, kayaking, and small boats. The resort gives Union an outsized presence on Hood Canal and supports a steady stream of visitors drawn by the scenery, the quiet, and the region's reputation for oysters and shellfish. Life in Union is centered on the water and the outdoors. It appeals to those seeking a retreat or a full-time home in a calm, scenic corner of the Pacific Northwest, removed from the pace of the I-5 corridor yet still within reach of Olympia and the southern Puget Sound.