By LARRY LANGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Madison Butler, like most 11-year-olds, isn't sure what she wants to do when she grows up. "I kind of want to be an artist, or a singer, probably," she muses.

But there's little doubt in Madison's brown-haired head about where she wants to live: Indianola, the idyllic Kitsap County hamlet where she has spent most of her young life.

Perched above Port Madison Bay, it's one of Kitsap County's picture-book villages: narrow streets lined with bushy hedges, tall trees, a funky old country store and neighbors who mind what one another's kids are up to.

When at leisure, its 1,500 residents stroll the long, rocky beach, play bridge and get ready for the summer's sand-castle competition. They joke to one another about the town's reputation as a place where "not only do people know every person in town, they know every dog's name," says Corinne Miller.

Many consider life in their town a rare treasure, with its blend of blue water, mountain vistas, snug homes passed down for generations and a quiet isolation that could lull the unsuspecting visitor nearly to sleep.

"It's like being on vacation all the time," said Sydni Sterling Dillon, 45, an artist who has lived in the community for the last 15 years.

Passing down homes from generation to generation is a family tradition in Indianola.

Jennie Hansen, 38, comes from that tradition. Born in Lynnwood, she began spending summers in Indianola as a young child at the cottage on Shore Drive purchased by her grandparents, Karl and Jane Smith, in the 1930s. The elder Smiths bought, upgraded and resold a succession of Indianola homes, eventually acquiring the one on Harris Avenue where Hansen now lives with husband Ron and four children.

The house was crafted from a former garage located at the edge of a four-lot parcel. The original house, a few yards up an incline, burned in the early 1940s and was never rebuilt. Later, when Hansen grew up "we were just here every summer," she recalls. "We all just kind of came back."

Her mother, Gerri Smith-Paramore, lives in Indianola, as do Jennie's sister and three of her five brothers. She is busy caring for her children and running a small business, but still relishes her time out of the house when she can walk or jog through the village.

Indianola real estate is a rare and sought-after commodity. With many homes being passed on within families, real estate agents don't always hear about properties for sale. Windermere Real Estate salesman Don Todd in Poulsbo says many sales are handled word-of-mouth or by notices posted at the store.

When homes are for sale they move quickly. A typical Indianola home reported to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service in the past six months was on the market 56 days, less time than for a typical home elsewhere in Kitsap County. Sellers generally get at least 98 percent of their asking price, indicating a high demand and little haggling, Todd says.

Homes don't sell often but owners "can sell easily, if there's a good price on it," he says. "People want to live in Indianola."