Other News
Jan 19, 2025: Four districts, six unions, three PTAs, and county leadership all agree: legislators must take action to fully fund education no
Dec 19, 2024: San Juan County Parks and Fair Announces New Camping Software; Delaying Reservation Availability
Dec 10, 2024: County Council Considers Extending Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste to Allow for More Collaboration
Dec 5, 2024: San Juan County to Consider Updated Interlocal Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District
Dec 2, 2024: San Juan County Council Sets Public Hearing for Cultural Access Sales Tax at Dec. 10 Meeting
Nov 25, 2024: San Juan County Celebrates Completion of Lopez Skate Park and Calls for Inaugural Skaters
Nov 7, 2024: How Has Extreme Weather Impacted You? Participate in the County’s Climate Resilience Planning Effort
Nov 1, 2024: UPDATE: Sea Wall Repairs Temporarily Close MacKaye Harbor Dock and Boat Ramp on Lopez Island
Oct 22, 2024: DRAFT North Shore Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Oct 21, 2024: Reminder: You’re Invited to Attend Open Houses for the 2025 Comp Plan Update This Fall
Oct 1, 2024: LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE SAN JUANS SPONSORS OCTOBER COUNTY COUNCIL VOTER FORUMS ON SJI, ORCAS, AND LOPEZ
Sep 24, 2024: County Hosts Community Meeting on Lopez Island to Discuss Public Safety during Hunting Season
Sep 24, 2024: SJC Reviews Shoreline Habitat & Infrastructure Adaptation Strategies in the face of Sea Level Rise
Sep 23, 2024: DRAFT Watmough Bay Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Aug 29, 2024: San Juan County’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Survey Sets Baseline for Ongoing Change
Aug 27, 2024: 2024 San Juan County WSU Master Gardeners Gardening Workshop Series, October 15-24, 2024
Aug 27, 2024: County Representatives Discuss Solutions to Ferry Service Disruptions with Governor Inslee
Aug 21, 2024: County Council’s Request to Governor for Relief from Ferry Service Disruptions Not Fulfilled
Aug 20, 2024: San Juan County Certifies Primary Election Results & Celebrates Highest Primary Turnout in Years
Aug 13, 2024: WSF Commits Additional Crews to Interisland Route to Ensure Service During County Fair Week
Aug 13, 2024: Ferry Data from Staff and Local Partners Shapes Council Request for ‘Executive Relief’ From WA State
Aug 5, 2024: The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival returns to Lopez for its 27th Summer Concert Season
May 2, 2024: WA State Governor and Assistant Secretary of WSF Talk Ferry Service & Solar Power with SJC Officials
Apr 11, 2024: Community Meeting: Sea Level Rise Adaptation for Outer Bay and Agate Beach Areas on Lopez Island
Mar 11, 2024: Queers in Unexpected Places: Searching for (and Finding) Gender and Sexual Non-Conformity in the Rural and Early PNW
Mar 7, 2024: DRAFT Richardson Marsh Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Dec 5, 2023: County Council Member Jane Fuller and Senator Liz Lovelett to Host Public Meeting on Lopez
Nov 3, 2023: County and Town Send Open Letter to State Officials Regarding Impacts of Poor Ferry Service
Sep 29, 2023: Conservation Land Bank Announces Special Meeting to Discuss Watmough Bay Preserve Addition
Sep 14, 2023: The mobile dental van is coming to Lopez! // ¡La camioneta dental móvil ya llega a López!
Aug 22, 2023: San Juan County Adopts 32-Hour Work Week in the Name of Fiscal Health, Recruitment, and Islander Wellness
May 25, 2023: Recap of Lopez Neighborhood Meeting Regarding the Relocation of Public Works Facilities
May 23, 2023: District 3 Councilmember Jane Fuller Opens Office on Lopez and Hosts Community Conversation
Apr 17, 2023: Give Lopez Starts April 17th - A two week fundraiser benefiting 15 Lopez Island Non-Profits
Sep 22, 2022: Interim Watmough Preserve Addition Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Making Pacific Worlds through Indigenous Exploration
Jun 24, 2024
By Lopez Island Historical Society & Museum
Join Professor Joshua Reid on Thursday, June 27, 6:30PM at the LCCA, to learn about Indigenous explorers like Comekala and Ranald Macdonald, who shaped world history through their explorations of the Pacific during the long nineteenth century.
Most narratives of exploration in the Americas focus on European colonizers "discovering" a new continent. We have the pictorial and editorial evidence from the European perspective of such first contact.
Of course, as we know, Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island have lived on and stewarded these lands and waterways since time immemorial. Until recently much of the Indigenous perspective of first contact has been lost, destroyed, or forgotten.
One of the first and most famous points of contact between European explorers and Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest is Friendly Cove on Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations know this site as Yuquot, which has been continuously occupied for more than 4,300 years.
While the tales of Spanish, then British, explorers reaching Yuquot remain well known, these shores also hold a story of Indigenous exploration. In 1786, Comekala, a young Mowachaht chief, sailed to China, where he lived for a year. His journey helped shape trans-Pacific history, as Yuquot became an economic point of entry for the fur trade, as well as for Chinese and Hawaiian laborers in the late 1700s.
Join us Thursday evening to learn more about the lives of these fascinating men and how they influenced history. 6:30 pm at the Lopez Center, $10 suggested donation.
Of course, as we know, Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island have lived on and stewarded these lands and waterways since time immemorial. Until recently much of the Indigenous perspective of first contact has been lost, destroyed, or forgotten.
One of the first and most famous points of contact between European explorers and Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest is Friendly Cove on Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations know this site as Yuquot, which has been continuously occupied for more than 4,300 years.
While the tales of Spanish, then British, explorers reaching Yuquot remain well known, these shores also hold a story of Indigenous exploration. In 1786, Comekala, a young Mowachaht chief, sailed to China, where he lived for a year. His journey helped shape trans-Pacific history, as Yuquot became an economic point of entry for the fur trade, as well as for Chinese and Hawaiian laborers in the late 1700s.
Join us Thursday evening to learn more about the lives of these fascinating men and how they influenced history. 6:30 pm at the Lopez Center, $10 suggested donation.
Illustration of Mowachaht people welcoming members of 1791 Malaspina Expedition at Yuquot (Cordero)
Illustration of Chief Maquinna’s ceremonial canoe and Spanish fort, drawn in 1791 (Suría)
Portrait of Ranald Macdonald
Professor Joshua Reid