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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

October 16 - 18: Celebrating Sacajawea

Over the next couple of days, I'm dedicating some blog posts to Sacajawea an' the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

On September 29th, Mom, Grandma, and Auntie Donna visited a park in Kennewick/Pasco/Richland, Washington called "Sacajawea Park." They were having a celebration of the expedition of the early nineteenth century with costumed "historical figures," native tools and ephemera, and some period foods (although Mom is kinda skeptical about the funnelcake's place in history) prepared by the boy scout an' cub scouts.



As you can see from the historical marker shown in the photo above, Lewis and Clark's party camped in the area that became the Sacajawea Park from October 16th through 18th in 1805. The little spit of land is bordered by the Snake and Columbia Rivers.



The park was FORMALLY dedicated to the people of the Tri-Cities area in 1927 by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Carstens. Prior to 1870, a women's organization called the Daughters of the Pioneers of Washington had set aside the acreage as a memorial.

When the park was dedicated eighty years ago, the trees were tiny and didn't provide much shade. Now, the trees are ginormous and cast their shade over much of the grassy areas of the park. There are areas with docks for mooring recreational boats, and while Mom was watching, a tugboat moved swiftly past pushing a large barge. She wasn't aware of how crucial that waterway is to commerce in the Pacific Northwest.

In the park, there was a museum with some cool artifacts and stuff to read. Check out everything about that historical event and how the Lewis and Clark Expedition was impacted by the introduction of salmon, the influence of the local tribes, and the conditions brought about by the Columbia River Gorge region.












6 comments:

Samantha & Mom said...

Hi Daisy:
Thanks for the post. It was very interesting and we loved the pictures.
Your FL furiends,

michico*Adan*Lego-小芥*阿丹*樂高 said...

That's have great meaning~!!!
Thanks for the post~!

Ramses said...

It looks very interesting, but where were the bows and arrows?! I'm sure they had bows and arrows then and I'm very interested in them... I often sit on Mummy's bow case and keep it warm and Isis is very fond of feather fletchings! :)

Queen Snickers, Empress and Princess Renna said...

Wow, very interesting and neat pictures. We learn a lot about history stuffs around our house, daddy is a history nut and momma likes it too but usually it is for older places/people than America.

Daisy said...

That is a beautiful park. I think I would enjoy seeing the historical figures.

Boy said...

Woah! Fur and feathers and tents! That wooks wike fun!