From my summer trip, I brought you all a photo-diary.
Port Townsend, Washington, is a small town with buildings old and new, boats (especially wooden ones), and new exhibits to celebrate indigenous history. Where Water Street meets the harbor, we now see the Welcome Pole which honors “millennia of finely crafted wooden boats and the artisans who built them” outside the Northwest Maritime Center.
People created this as a partnership between Native Connections Action Group of the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, with support from community businesses, service groups, and members.
There are three figures on the Welcome Pole
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The top is the Supernatural Carpenter with tools in hand.
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The middle is the Spirit of the Cedar tree from which beautiful seaworthy craft have been made for so many generations.
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The bottom is a man, shown standing on Sentinel Rock. This is čičməhán (say it this way: Cheech-ma-han), referred to by early settlers as Chetzemoka.
Here is the history
Notice that the clothing is carefully carved and painted. The rock has a face. The colors are the traditional ones.
.This plaque shows the name of the carving and the people who designed, carved, and painted it. There are fresh cedar branches placed at the bottom during a public ceremony (June 29, 2019).
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What a wonderful piece of public art, honoring shared history!
You can read more details and see more photos in the newspaper story