Longhouse Exhibit Opens on May 25, 2010 with Blessing Ceremony at 1:30 p.m.

The Longhouse Exhibit was a cooperative effort between the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and the MAC. The idea came to me when I was still the Registrar here, during a visit to Royal British Columbia Museum. My visits to museums usually result in piquing the security people's interest, and this was no exception. Some people look at the artifacts, and some people look at the box that holds them, and I look for specific details on how that box is put together. This tends to bring me in contact with hidden doors, bolts, fasteners and eventually security people.

Back at home, the Exhibit Center was still a cinderblock wall interior, and had several walls that were ancillary to the exhibits that would suffice to install a longhouse upon which to hang the interpretive panels on Jamestown.

However, it was not until the preliminary stages of the 2009 remodel, when all the phony walls were removed to install new flooring, that the opportunity came to make a large installation.  At that time, I envisioned a Jamestown Exhibit on the wall when the perimeter displays were still images on my laptop. When I spoke to Rocky Fankhouser about a wanting a longhouse on the trip back from the Bainbridge Historical Society's Museum, he liked the idea; the idea blossomed when the volunteer crew of Rocky, John Majors, Mike Vollenweider, and Larry Wing envisioned converting the former Museum Store stockroom into the interior of the longhouse, thus expanding the display space and giving depth to the exhibit.

I did some preliminary sketches, and with the 3-D scale model of the Exhibit Center that Rocky constructed, we asked Vickie Carroll, the Jamestown Cultural Coordinator, if we could present our ideas at a Tribal Council Meeting. We were very pleased that the Tribal Council approved the exhibit and plans were made to obtain cedar for the siding and a woven material for the interior. The work was done by the crew and it has resulted in an exceptional exhibit.

There were many hours of work on the exhibit, from deconstructing the stockroom to work on the doorways and lighting. Jerry Monson of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe milled the cedar, and Jeff Monson carved a special paddle for the exterior. Rocky Fankhouser was the master craftsman with the help of Michael Vollenweider and Larry Wing, who also helped with the lighting, audio unit, and motion sensor. Vickie Carroll, Lyn Fiveash, Steph Elias, Priscilla Hudson, and I worked on the interpretive panels and photographs. Vickie Carroll selected the first items to be exhibited, and Rocky Fankhouser fabricated special risers and a Plexiglas case to protect the artifacts. Much of the information for the interpretive panels comes from the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe's website, used with permission.