When you go see the new permanent exhibit at the Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s Log House Museum, set aside a considerable chunk of time, or plan on multiple visits – we couldn’t take it all in during our visit for the grand opening this past Thursday night, there’s so much to see and hear! There’s West Seattle Bridge history …
Other transportation history …
Native history …
Settler history …
Historic commemorations ..
Historic recreation …
And memories of celebrations …
Of course, someday the Thursday night event will be part of history too. So a ceremonial ribbon was cut:
So was a cake!
And of course key figures in making “Beyond Alki” reality had something to say – SWSHS board president Kathy Duncan talked about how it’s meant for a wide variety of museum visitors, and how an array of sponsors helped it become reality:
As introduced by Duncan, Natasha Varner from 4Culture spoke next, praising SWSHS for its recounting of this area’s “muanced, complex history”:
Much of that history begins with tribes, and two representatives spoke at the grand opening – Kristina Pearson of the Duwamish Tribe suggested that “Chief Seattle would be proud of us”:
As she said, Chief Seattle also led the Suquamish people, whose current chair Leonard Forsman spoke too, stressing the importance of sharing tribal culture “in this museum and beyond”:
Final speaker was the executive director of the historical society, Elizabeth Rudrud, who talked about “Beyond Alki” as a new way to discover West Seattle history:
The museum is open to the public 10 am to 4 pm Saturdays, as well as noon to 4 pm Thursdays and Fridays, at 3003 61st SW. Be sure to take time to stop and listen to audio that’s also part of “Beyond Alki,” as did this well-known visitor on Thursday night:
(That’s Easy Street Records‘ Matt Vaughan, in a corner of the exhibit featuring his corner – the exhibit’s audio, by the way, includes a special recording of a turn-of-the-20th-century classic:)
Learn about the museum’s own history, too, when you go.
