House of Seven Generations - Chetzemoka Trail

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The agenda for the Tribe’s Children’s After School Program in English and Klallam.

Tribal youth study their Klallam language lessons in the Jamestown Tribal Library.

Was he čičməhán or Chetzemoka?
The Chief’s Klallam name was čičməhán, roughly pronounced Cheech-ma-han. The settlers had trouble pronouncing it, and called him Chetzemoka or Duke of York.

Klallam language was still spoken in many homes through the first half of the 20th century, when most Tribal people spoke both Klallam and English. By 1992, with only six Native speakers remaining, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe contacted linguist Dr. Timothy Montler of the University of North Texas to help save the language, and it became his life’s work. He worked with those six Tribal citizens, all of whom had learned to speak Klallam before they learned to speak English, translating hundreds of common words as well as recordings made by earlier linguists in the 1940s and 50s. Montler transcribed the pronunciations of what had been only a spoken language into a phonetic alphabet to create a written language.

The Klallam alphabet is based on a standard set of phonetic symbols used in writing many of the Native American languages of the Northwest. Since the Klallam language has several sounds not found in European languages like English, some special symbols must be used to represent these sounds.

The Klallam alphabet shown in their alphabetical order:

With the help of Elders, educators, and Tribal Councils of the Klallam Tribes at Elwha, Port Gamble, and Jamestown, Washington, and Becher Bay on Vancouver Island, in 2012 Linguist Dr. Timothy Montler published his comprehensive dictionary of the Klallam language. It includes over 9,000 entries.

Swan School is named after James Gilchrist Swan (1818-1900), who traveled from Boston to the Pacific Northwest in 1852. He resided at several Native villages including Shoalwater Bay and Neah Bay, where he served as a school teacher, learning the languages, documenting cultures, and developing relationships with Tribal leaders. In 1859, he settled in Port Townsend, where his relationship with čičməhán flourished. He published many books and articles of his life among the Natives and the early settlers.

čičməhán Trail Map...

Click the markers on the map above to visit the
trail site pages.

Trail Sign Locations:

Chetzemoka Park
_{900 Jackson St. (main entrance)}

Hudson Beach/Big Heart
_{103 Hudson St.}

Point Hudson
_{103 Hudson St.}

Northwest Maritime Center
_{Water St. & Monroe St.}

Village at Memorial Field
_{Washington St.}

Fowler Building
_{226 Adams St.}

Union Wharf/Indian Island
_{Wharf on end of Taylor St.}

Port Townsend Ferry Overlook
_{1200 Block of Washington St.}

Port Townsend Post Office
_{1322 Washington St.}

qatáy Lagoon

Laurel Grove Cemetery
_{24th St. & Discovery Rd.}

Swan School / Klallam language
_{2345 Kuhn St.}

Sentinel Rock
_{1948 Blaine St. (Golf Course)}

qatáy Prairie
_{1948 Blaine St.}

Four Points
_{Blaine St. & and VanBuren St.}

qatáy Valley
_{Pacific Ave.& Milo St.}

North Beach
_{End of Kuhn St.}

Point Wilson
_{Fort Worden}

Map PDF version

Previous Trail Sign

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Laurel Grove Cemetery

Sentinel Rock

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