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100 YEARS LATER:
RIGHTING A WRONG AT OLD MAN HOUSE PARK
by Ted George and Sarah Ruth van Gelder
During this time when peace on earth is both so hoped for and yet so elusive, there are signs of peace coming from just across the Puget Sound. These signs center on efforts to return the home of one of the region's most famous peacemakers, Chief Sealth, to the Suquamish Tribe. Chief Sealth is known not only for the city named after him, but for his famous words, which have circled the globe inspiring people to consider our interconnectedness with one another and with the natural world.
Chief Sealth's home is located on Agate Passage which separates Bainbridge Island from the Kitsap Peninsula. Archeological evidence shows that people lived on this site for at least 2000 years. Old Man House, the largest longhouse in the Puget Sound region, built here in the early 1800s, was the winter home for Chief Sealth and hundreds of Suquamish people.
The 600-foot long Old Man House was burned to the ground by the US military in the 1870s in an apparent effort to convince the people to give
up their traditional ways of life. The Suquamish people rebuilt a village at this site, then called Old Man House Village, and by 1885, most of the families of the Port Madison Indian Reservation were living there. In 1904, the U.S. War Department, claiming the land was needed for
fortifications to protect the Bremerton Navy Yard from foreign attack, took the land from the Tribe. The village was dismantled; the church,
graveyard, school, and the homes of the people were moved and dispersed.
The War Department never did build any fortifications, and in 1937, the site of Old Man House Village was sold to a private buyer and then
subdivided. Washington State Parks purchased a small portion of the former Old Man House site for a state park in 1950.
In recent years, the Suquamish Tribe, like many in the region, has been regaining the vision and the skills to promote their agendas, protect
their rights, and be positive change agents. The Tribe is requesting the return of Old Man House Park, not as a hostile takeover, but with a
commitment to maintain the park as a location of singular historic and cultural importance - and to continue to keep it open as a park,
accessible to all.
Opposition from a small group has stalemated past efforts to have the park returned, but this time may be different. The state is seeking to reduce the costs associated with some state parks and is looking for other governmental entities to take them over. And this year, the Tribe is
reaching out to the broader community, working closely with Suquamish Olalla Neighbors, a group of both Tribal and non-Tribal residents who are committed to peacemaking of the deepest sort - the sort that aims to right wrongs and build lasting friendships based on mutual respect. Together, the Tribe and the broader community prepared a plan for the park based on hundreds of comments received at open meetings, through surveys, and emails.
Opposition to the Tribe has not gone away. Anti-Indian groups from outside the region are joining local opponents in an effort to stop the Tribe from regaining the site of Old Man House Park. But many people see the possibility that this small location with a grand natural mosaic can be an oasis, refuge, and ** place for healing** for us all. This year is the 100th anniversary of the year the land was taken from the Suquamish
people; if the Washington state Parks and Recreation Commission chooses to return this land to the Tribe, this could be a year of ** the most
profound kind of peacemaking.
The authors are co-founders and co-chairs of Suquamish Olalla Neighbors.
**More information on what you can do to make this peacemaking possible can be found at
www.soneighbors.org. Ted George is the General Council chairman of the three S'Klallam nations. His mother was chair of the Suquamish Tribal Council and his father, chair of the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribal Council. Sarah Ruth van Gelder lives near to Old Man House Park on the Port Madison Reservation, and is also executive editor and co-founder of YES! magazine.** |
