Around Seattle: Tillicum Village Cultural Experience

Tillicum Village is a Native Indian cultural learning experience. The village itself is set on beautiful Blake Island, which also has some interesting history of its own! The tour I took included a traditional meal, and a performance from some of the Native American Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest, including the Salish and Haida tribes.All the tribes from this area are particularly interesting because a plentiful food source of Salmon in the region meant they had a lot of free time to make beautiful artwork and carvings! 

I had read some reviews about this tour: some loved it, some hated it but everyone agreed it was one of those things you just have to do! I was lucky enough to get a discounted ticket, and I travelled on a beautiful day. On the cruise to Blake Island there was a tour guide narrating some history of the waterways surrounding Seattle. I found it so interesting. I learnt that Seattle was named after a local tribal chief who was a great help to the settlers when they first arrived. The settlers landed on (what is now known as) Alki beach and had plans of turning the area into a new version of New York city. The beach and surrounding area was great in the summer and spring but absolutely brutal in winter - the settlers nearly didn't make it! The Indian chief Si'ahl (sometimes known as Sealth) made sure the settlers were looked after and suggested that they set up their new city over a little bit further (the current location of Seattle Downtown and Pioneer Square area). In gratitude to the chief the settlers named the city after him, unfortunately they couldn't pronounce his name properly so it became "Seattle". 

Alki Beach - the new New York? I guess not!

Something interesting to me was the story of the name 'Alki' Beach - it actually came about as a bit of a joke the Indians had about the settlers wanting to set up a new New York - Alki means 'by and by' - kind of like 'one day' - the Indians had heard of the great city in the east and they were wise enough to know that Alki beach would never become that so they would say New York Alki 'one day'.


Anyway, I digress, so we arrived on Blake Island and were greeted by a man in traditional tribal regalia and a warm cup full of freshly steamed clams! I have never eaten clams before and I'm not hugely into shellfish but I wanted to get my money's worth so I ate them, they were actually pretty tasty and I ate them all. We then made our way into the longhouse where we could see the salmon cooking by the fire! I had a little look around then went and got my lunch - it was a buffet and was sooooo delicious! They had rice and a special Pacific Northwest stew, beans, salads, fruits, a special bread and of course the salmon. It was all cooked to perfection and absolutely beautiful. They also brought around cute little apple pies for dessert. I managed to have a conversation with one of the performers and he told me a bit about his tribe and their history. It was interesting because I could see similarities with the Maori culture. 

Entering Blake Island to the Tillicum Village

Clams in a cup!

Salmon cooking away on the fire!

So delicious!

Carved totem poles in the foyer 

The performance was interesting, they had some amazing cedar masks with huge beaks that could move and made a great clapping noise! They told stories as well. It's always a strange experience to try to bottle somebody's culture and package it into a commodity, but I think in general it was pretty tastefully done and not tacky. 

Performers and their masks

After the performance we were able to walk around the island by ourselves for a bit. I really made the most of it and went as far as I could in the time we had. It was well worth it, I saw two deer wandering across the forest track, and I also saw a small garter snake darting around in front of me, it was so special! There were also three bald eagles around the beach treetops, I saw them but it was hard to see much when they were so high up. 

What a treat to see these two deer!

Some other hats worn in the tribe

This is the hat worn by the chief

This hat is a rain hat, it also has a cool story- if you want status in the tribe you would redistribute your wealth around the tribe and you would earn a little ring which you would add to the top of your hat, so if you saw someone with many rings that meant they had a very high status because they had redistributed their wealth many times.

A thunderbird hat with orcas on the top, a reference to the power and size of the thunderbird

On the way back to Seattle the guide gave a commentary about the different buildings in Seattle and the different types of boats and tugs that work in the docks of the harbour. I even saw the cruise ship dock that I will depart from! One of the interesting stories he told was of the Edgewater Hotel - it is a Hotel actually built right on the pier - literally right on the water. When it was opened they didn't think anyone would come to it so they advertised it in fishing magazines and said that you could go fishing right out the window, it proved to be a very popular tagline and fisherman would travel from all over to try it out. What the hotel hadn't counted on was how many and how big the fish would be! As the guests reeled their bounty in often windows were broken and the exterior battered from all the large fish! Also, once the fish were in the room the guests would often try to keep the fish in the bath or leave them in odd places like the toilet or behind the beds, in closets etc. Led Zeppelin and the Beatles and other famous bands stayed here - Led Zeppelin were famously banned after an incident with a groupie and a fish, and after they threw furnishings and linens out the window into the bay. The hotel eventually stopped people fishing from the windows! 

The infamous Edgewater Hotel!