“San Juan Island, located at the crossroads of protected inland waterways and blessed with abundant natural resources, long has attracted people wishing to support themselves or find rest and relaxation.

Archaeological research points to hunting and gathering by the Coast Salish tribes starting 8,000 years ago, and marine culture dating from about 2,500 years ago.  By early recorded historic times, indigenous peoples of the San Juan Islands and nearby mainland areas included members of six Central Coast Salish Tribes.

Central Coast Salish tribes shared a way of life that relied on a wide range of sea- and land-based resources. They followed patterns of seasonal movement between islands and the mainland and from large winter villages to smaller resource collection camps occupied in the other seasons.  Although European colonization dramatically altered the tribes’ relationship to the island, we continue in that tradition of broad resource sharing by opening our grounds and building to the community.

We acknowledge the Central Coast Salish people, who are the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and live, and recognize their continuing connection to the land, water, and air that we consume. We pay respect to the tribes of the San Juan Islands (Sooke, Saanich, Songhees, Lummi, Samish, Semiahmoo), all Nations, and their elders past, present, and emerging.”