>> The following is a presentation of KBTC Profiles.

[ Waves Splashing ] >> I think any island has a sort of mystery to it.

You know, it's out there beyond a little bit.

It's outside of our normal realm, and Blake Island offers that, and then, when you add on the layers of knowing something about the history of this place, it's one of those places, it's kind of an anchor point for a lot of people, I think.

[ Music ] >> Blake Island is a small island south of Bainbridge Island in the center of our ancestral territory.

The Suquamish people would go there frequently based upon what type of resources were available, and the Suquamish were marine people.

So we relied upon the waters behind me for our transportation.

Our people were throughout the Salish Sea, traveling as far north as the Fraser River and as far south as Vashon Island, harvesting fish and clams and hunting and socializing and interacting and trading with other tribes.

[ Singing ] Chief Seattle was from Suquamish.

His father was a Suquamish leader.

His mother was from an Indian village in present Kent Valley.

It's been documented that Chief Seattle was born on Blake Island, so he had roots, very deep, deep ancestral roots here, of course.

He was a young boy when Captain George Vancouver of the British Navy first came to Puget Sound, or the Salish Sea, as we call it.

So he had that experience of seeing some of the first explorers recorded to be in this area and helped his father and witnessed his father and his people trade with the explorers' crew.

They actually hunted and killed a deer on Blake Island to bring to the crew there who didn't have any fresh meat on their ship for quite a while.

So they were quite happy to get it, and that was some early exposure for him and marked the first contact with our people and a big change that came that he experienced throughout his life.

And then, as time went on, Chief Seattle became a negotiator on trade and also on government-to-government relationships, first with the Hudson's Bay Company, which was a British fur company, and then later with the Americans as the Americans came in to the area around 1850.

I think the combination of being an ambassador to the first people of Seattle and helping them and also being a go-between between the U.S.

government and the tribes was an important role that Chief Seattle was recognized for.

[ Music ] >> You know, when you're out on the island, it's not hard to do that time travel back into the past because it really does look very much like it has for perhaps thousands of years.

You can almost close your eyes and think about, you know, Vancouver's ship anchored over there and the other members of the crew going out in their rowboats to measure the shoreline.

So it has many points that sort of intersect with the history of Washington and with the people who live here.

In the 50s, when Blake Island became a state park, there was a proposal initiated by a gentleman named Hewitt that it could be a centerpiece of sharing that indigenous tradition with visitors.

He would offer his meals and some programming and other cultural elements as part of that, and that plan was approved.

By the mid-70s, 100,000 people a year were visiting the island, many of them to come to Tillicum Village, and then came COVID-19.

The visitation drastically declined.

The operator wasn't able to continue their operation.

[ Music ] Tillicum Village, you know, is sitting empty now.

We're hoping somebody will come save it, but who knows?

Well, Blake Island is a Marine State Park.

Marine State Parks are pretty special.

They're state parks that are entirely an island, oftentimes only accessible by private vessel.

The thing about Blake is it's right here in central Puget Sound.

It's this little gem amongst all this development, you know, but there's a lot of wildlife around, these little adaptive sea raccoons, and then the deer and the eagles and the otters.

Yeah, it's just a wonderful spot.

[ Music ] >> [Lushootseed language] Good morning.

It's a beautiful day to be here at Chief Seattle's Gravesite Memorial.

We appreciate all the people that traveled close and those that traveled far to be with us today.

>> You know, being that Chief Seattle was born on Blake Island and his life overlapped so many historic events, he was able to experience and adapt to a lot of change, and he's known as a diplomat, and he's also known as a person of vision.

He talked about our culture and our spirituality and our strong relationship to the land and the waters and how he hoped that that could continue.

[ Singing ] You know, the series of events that occurred that have gotten us to the place we are now where our culture is a lot stronger and our young people are practicing it on a daily basis, and it's just been a really great time to lead the tribe.

It's been humbling to be part of it.

[ Singing ] >> Funding for this edition of KBTC Profiles provided by the KBTC Association.

>> KBTC profiles are available at kbtc.org.