HOMEY LODGE AWAITS AT LAKE CRESCENT.

Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor

PORT ANGELES, Wash. - Lake Crescent Lodge nestles in a forest so tall and thick that you often have to use your headlights in the daytime to make your way along the narrow drive to the office.

And that's the beauty of the early-20th-century lodges in the national parks of the West. They were constructed long before the park service adopted back-to-nature sensibilities and in fact probably couldn't even get approval for construction today. The boon for visitors is that these stately lodging properties are usually surrounded by natural areas both serene and pristine. There's little danger of condos or a movie multiplex going in next door.

The 52-room lodge in the northern reaches of Olympic National Park and 18 miles removed from busy Port Angeles sits on the shore of a glacier- carved lake. It's quiet enough to hear a pine needle fall at night, and the forest canopy makes it easy to sleep in. During the day, most guests take a stroll along the edge of the lake, rent a rowboat for a short excursion or flop into Adirondack chairs to gaze over the still waters in the late afternoon.

The lodge is also a convenient base of operations for exploring the park. Hurricane Ridge and the Elwha Valley are short drives to the east. In the other direction, the Hoh Rain Forest and the park's stretch of wild Pacific coastline can be easily incorporated into a day trip.

It's been providing hospitality to Olympic Peninsula visitors since 1916, when an entrepreneur built Singer's Tavern at the water's edge to give loggers a place to blow off steam. That building now constitutes the main lobby area, although additions were subsequently slapped on and cabins and other rooms built.

One of the most important building projects occurred in 1937, when a cluster of lakeside cabins were constructed for a visit by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They're still here, called the Roosevelt Cottages, but you won't find any ``FDR Slept Here'' signs hanging outside. That's because details of the visit are fuzzy: Lodge management speculates that members of Roosevelt's entourage roughed it out at the lake, while the president bedded down in Port Angeles.

The visits of other dignitaries are confirmed, however, including former Supreme Court Chief Justice William O. Douglas and then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Lake Crescent Lodge is certainly a comfortable place to settle down for the night. Its common room, which once housed the tavern, is dominated by a great stone fireplace. Comfortable chairs and couches are configured in a U around it, and lamps provide good reading light. The room also has some fun, kitschy touches that fit the forest-lodge setting: a snowshoe lighting fixture, totem poles, crossed canoe paddles on the wall.

There is no TV at Lake Crescent Lodge - not in the rooms, not in that common room, not above the bar. Instead, guests amuse themselves with more traditional diversions. One evening, it was heartening to see a couple of kids playing chess with oversize pieces on a blanket-weave board - and seeming to have a riotously good time. On the sun porch, meanwhile, another family was engaged in a game of Scrabble.

The lodge's restaurant is simple and inviting, with views of the lake, and offers such clever dishes as ``triple fins'' - small grilled filets of salmon, black sesame mahi mahi and orange zest halibut ($17.95).

The wine list, with reasonable prices both by the bottle and the glass, trots the globe - Australia, Spain, Italy, France and, of course, Washington state. For a truly local taste, try Lake Crescent White, a 50-50 blend of semillon and viognier made for the lodge by Camaraderie Cellars of Port Angeles.

After dinner, you might want to get comfortable by the fireplace and ponder a Lake Crescent ghost story. Or two. Oddly, this setting of such peace has experienced its share of the macabre.

A book in the gift shop recounts the tale of the Lady of the Lake. Hallie Illingworth, a strikingly pretty woman, was a waitress at Lake Crescent Lodge before moving to Port Angeles and getting married. She planned to return to the lodge to celebrate Christmas in 1937 but suddenly disappeared.

Her husband was later convicted of murdering her, but only after she implicated him in death. Illingworth's body had been dumped in the lake, but it surfaced nearly three years after the murder. Because of the cold temperatures and alkaline properties of the water, the body was miraculously preserved. Evidence suggested a violent death - and pointed to the husband.

Another mystery was solved only recently. In 1929, a couple drove from the town of Forks, on the west side of the peninsula, to Port Angeles to buy a washing machine. On the return drive, they disappeared without a trace.

This past April, park service divers found the car at a depth of 150 feet in Lake Crescent. Highway 101 clings precariously to the lake's edge even today, and it's speculated that the couple lost control on a curve and plunged into the water. The divers retrieved the washing machine lid. Relatives of the couple were contacted, and the lodge held a simple memorial service on the lakeshore.

--Cabin accommodations starting at $83.70 per night are available during the winter at Lake Crescent Lodge, though the restaurant is closed for the season. When the lodge fully reopens in April, room rates will start at $56.77. Information: [phone]; www.lakecrescentlodge.com.

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Adirondack chairs and a stunning view, above??, await visitors to Lake Crescent Lodge. Relaxation is the name of the game in the lodge, left???, the first part of which was built in 1916.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor