The Duwamish Longhouse

So, for a long time now I've been wanting to visit the Duwamish longhouse the (reconstructed) dining hall  /  cultural center and museum and gift shop along the lower banks of Seattle's major river. Last week we finally made it. if you're at all interested in such things, I recommend making a visit.

The original longhouse does not survive, but building this new one seems to have been part of a resurgence of the Duwamish people, the Native American people who lived along the banks of the local rivers system --especially the Green River, the area around the mouth of which is still known as the Duwamish, as well as the Black River (only a small marshy bit of which survives) and Cedar River (completely remade around the turn of the twentieth century into a salmon run).

The Duwamish people were dispersed in the 1850s. Denied a reservation, and official recognition, they were forced to the margins. By the time of the Native American rights movement got going, there were too few of them left to meet the federal guidlines for establishing a reservation, opening a casino, and the like. That is, there are people in the area who can prove their direct descent from Duwamish living in the area continuously since the time of Chief Seattle himself. But there are none of full Duwamish descent.

However things work out in the long term, it's good that the Duwamish people are no longer being persecuted and have a symbolic icon like the Longhouse to help them recover and preserve relics and their culture. 

--John R

-- P.S.: These photos of Duwamish, on bookmarks at the checkout counter in the gift shop, give a good idea of what their life was like a century and more ago.  I think each bears the slogan

WE ARE STILL HERE, which I take it to be their motto.