NATURAL PLAYGROUND: Woven Cultural Landscape At Swadabs Park
Aplace that matters to our family is Swadabs Cedar Hat Park, on the Swinomish Channel, about 90-minutes north from our home in Seattle. Like most places that matter, I find this place irreplicable and complex, the result of multifaceted divine, natural, and human labors.
I first encountered Swadabs when the Cedar Hats were being constructed, while visiting my wife about a decade ago, when she worked at a legal clinic paid for by the the Swinomish Tribe.
This place serves many functions:
Cultural & Civic
Swadabs Park, which was developed in 2011 for Canoe Journey and features three pavilions resembling woven cedar hats and interpretive signage internally as well as signage in the adjacent native garden. All signage relates architecture and landscape to culture.
Environmental
Swinomish Channel saltwater restoration project which was implemented in 2010. Substantial project involving science, engineering, ecology and reflective of the Swinomish Tribe’s efforts to blend science and traditional culture in new model of sustainability. Hydrology complements the Swadabs park. Symbolically, the pathways meandering around the park “dead end” at the channel.
Youth Park
The youth park is easily overlooked unless you have children. Superficially similar to any neighborhood playground, the park is distinct if you take the time to observe it, or, especially, if you play there with children or grandchildren. One feature is adjacency to the Swinomish Day Care Center, yet, as with the other areas, is open to others
INFUSING LAYERS OF HISTORY
Based on a place that acknowledges history and importance to current inhabitants, the Swinomish Tribe placed the park at the site of the ancestral village, Txiwuc. It features a native-plant garden and various aspects of Swinomish culture.
Marking the entrance to the park is the Swinnomish WPA totem pole, offering a fabulous cultural storybook carved by tribal member Charlie Edwards as a visual representation of traditional teachings and guiding spirits that had formerly been held privately by families on the reservation.
Interpretative panels throughout the park were a collaboration between an artist, archivist, and Swinomish Tribal member, Cecelia La Pointe, and Swinomish Archivist, Theresa Trebon.
The pavilion project, scheduled to begin construction in January, is designed by Native-owned architecture and planning firm Womer & Associates.
In such a small, discrete location, this natural playground bridges many stories, cultures, science, across time.
Swadabs overlooks the saltwater Swinomish Channel, which connects Skagit Bay, to the south, and Padilla Bay, to the north, separating Fidalgo Island from mainland Skagit County.
