PORT TOWNSEND — Jo Blair and Kate Storey at 7 tonight, Aug. 5, will lead a presentation about the Native Americans who lived on the North Olympic Peninsula before the arrival of Europeans.
The presentation is part of the ongoing Jefferson County Historical Society First Friday Lecture series.
The lecture, “Learning and Sharing the Cultural History of Port Townsend,” will be in Port Townsend City Council chambers, 540 Water St.
Admission is free, although donations are welcome to support historical society programs.
Blair and Storey are co-leaders of the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s Native Peoples Connections Action Group.
Thousands of years before European settlers came to the Quimper Peninsula, native peoples established their way of life and culture in the Port Townsend area, according to the Jefferson County Historical Society.
The Strong People — also known as the Jamestown S’Klallam, Lower Elwha Klallam and Port Gamble S’Klallam — no longer reside on ancestral land on the Quimper Peninsula.
Over the past few years, the action group has provided movies, classes and discussions for Port Townsend community members to learn about the long history of Native Americans in the area, according to a news release.
During their presentation, Blair and Storey will discuss what East Jefferson County was like before Euro-American contact.
The speakers also will share information about their recent visit to Twisp’s Methow Valley Interpretive Center.
The center offers displays related to the original Native American inhabitants of the Methow Valley, as well as the geology and natural history of the Methow Valley, according to twispworks.org.
The speakers will highlight the center as an example of what might be done in the Port Townsend community, they said.
The program complements the exhibit “Persistent Vision: Northwest Native Art” in the Jefferson Museum of Art & History as well as the reprinting of Jerry Gorsline’s “Shadows of Our Ancestors,” which will be available after the presentation.
For more information, call 360-385-1003.
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Features Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@ peninsuladailynews.com.
