Peninsula walking path follows a S’Klallam tale

PORT TOWNSEND — Step onto the Kah Tai Lagoon trail, and you enter a true story about this place.

“Seya’s Song,” a children’s book about a S’Klallam grandmother and her family — of humans and wild things — is the Port Townsend Library’s current StoryWalk. In this free offering, a series of panels dots the Kah Tai park path, which starts from Landes Street and winds its way to Kearney Street, covering about half a mile.

Jan Jacobson of Port Ludlow, formerly of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Library and now a staff member at the Port Townsend Library, was the finder of this book. Written 30 years ago by former Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe fisheries biologist Ron Hirschi and illustrated by Constance R. Bergum, “Seya’s Song” is in English. What makes it rare: Many S’Klallam words are stirred in.

Siehu, heron; Memptcheton, Mount Olympus; Alelo, salmonberries; Skaatl, otter; Kwitchin, salmon; Tsat-so, out to sea; and Tetosena, stars, are here. So are Smyets, elk; Tlatsam, mussels; Kloomachin, orca whale, and Sushatsht, sun.

Seya, grandmother, walks with her granddaughter through this natural world, reminding her to take care of the creatures around her.

Along with a glossary with dozens of Indigenous words, the StoryWalk panels include the Port Townsend Library’s acknowledgement of the lagoon as a significant place in the community.

“The land that we know as Port Townsend was first known as a thriving village of the S’Klallam People; this village was called qatáy (“kuh-tai”). The S’Klallam’s well-known chief čičməhán (“cheech-muh-hann”), or Chetezmoka, was born at qatáy in 1808. While this area belonged, and still belongs, to the S’Klallams, it is acknowledged that other local tribes camped along the beaches as they visited or moved along in their travels,” one of the first panels reads.

“Salmon returned to the Hoko, Elwha and other S’Klallam rivers in great abundance during each season. Wild elk were plentiful. Clams and mussels grew in clean water,” notes another panel, adding that Indigenous people depended on those healthy streams and forests, alive as they were with fish, evergreens and elk.

“For the S’Klallam, grandparents and children are the most prized members of the community, representing as they do the past as well as the future. Like the words in a song of life, each leads to the other and no part of the song can be left unsung,” the panel text continues.

“Seyas, children, salmon, cedar and all the inhabitants of the S’Klallam world are one.”

The story of “Seya’s Song” brings awareness to the interconnectedness of all life, Jacobson said last Saturday as she walked the Kah Tai trail.

This book, she added, is one in the permanent StoryWalk series the Port Townsend Library began last fall. Cosponsored by the Port Townsend Public Library Foundation and the city Public Works Department, the StoryWalk panels are designed for people of all ages.

In March, a new set of panels will be installed as the Port Townsend Community Read gets underway: “A Year around the Great Oak” will be the StoryWalk for the entire month. The book by Gerda Muller pays tribute to the four seasons of an oak tree.

It also aligns with “Wishtree,” one of the two Community Read selections this year. While “Wishtree” by Katherine Applegate is a book for ages 4 and older, the other Community Read title for teens and adults is “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune. Details about both books and the many free activities around them next month can be found at PTpubliclibrary.org and 360-385-3181.

As for “Seya’s Song,” published by Sasquatch Books, copies are available for checkout from Clallam County’s North Olympic Library System (NOLS.org) and from the Port Townsend and Jefferson County libraries (JClibrary.info). It can also be ordered from local bookstores.

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Jefferson County Senior Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.