meaning place of the clear salt water in the Southern Lushootseed language, has been the primary home of the Suquamish people since time immemorial. It is the ancient place on Agate Passage, the site of Old-Man-House Village, the winter home of Chief Seattle and the heart of the Suquamish people. It is here- past , present and future that the Suquamish people live on the land of our ancestors and our great-grandchildren.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT
“Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every
valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days
long vanished.”
Chief Seattle 1854
We would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is within
the aboriginal territory of the suq̀ʷabš “People of Clear Salt Water” (Suquamish
People). Expert fisherman, canoe builders and basket weavers, the suq̀ʷabš live in
harmony with the lands and waterways along Washington’s Central Salish Sea as they
have for thousands of years. Here, the suq̀ʷabš live and protect the land and waters
of their ancestors for future generations as promised by the Point Elliot Treaty of
1855.
