RESPECT FOR THE PAST: Alki's Longhouse And Cultural Center
The Duwamish people, known to have inhabited Western Washington for 10000 years, have lived in the Alki region since the sixth century CE. The Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center (DLCC), an archaeological and cultural conservation project launched in the 1990s and completed in 2009, pays tribute to this rich continuous history on the Duwamish Waterway appropriately across the street from the ancestral village hah-AH-poos, also known as Duwamish Site One.
Designed by Byron Barnes of Potlatch Architects, the two-story post-and-beam cedar-log longhouse incorporates the stylistic features of traditional Duwamish longhouse construction, including generous skylights for natural illumination by day (and moonlit night) as well as removable partitions that allow the structure to accommodate 200 guests. In collaboration with the Burke Museum of UW, the DLCC houses and exhibits archaeological artifacts for study by visiting scholars and the public. The tribal kitchen preserves and hands down Duwamish culinary tradition.
