Suquamish

Bainbridge Island is a primary part of the ancestral heartland of the Suquamish Tribe, whose ancestors first occupied the post-glacial landscape of Western Washington at least 14,000 years ago.

The Suquamish name derives from the beach in front of the mother village of Old Man House on Agate Passage: dxʷsəq’ʷəb, the place of the clear salt water in the Lushootseed language. The people of Suquamish or clear salt water were suq’ʷabš, which early English traders heard as Suquamish.

Not many of the Suquamish live on Bainbridge today, as the land was ceded in the Point Elliot Treaty of 1855. The Tribe continues to harvest their traditional foods in the area, while using their treaty fishing rights to protect the waters of Puget Sound for all citizens.