View source for Old Man House

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name         = Old-Man-House Site (45KP2)
| nrhp_type    =
| image        = Old Man House 2 NRHP 89002299 Kitsap County, WA.jpg
| caption      = Old Man House Park in [[Suquamish, Washington|Suquamish]] on [[Agate Passage]], former location of the Old Man House
| nearest_city = [[Suquamish, Washington]]
| locmapin     = Washington
| architect    =
| architecture =
| added        = January 12, 1990
| area         = {{convert|1.1|acre}}
| refnum       = 89002299<ref name=nris>{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
}}

The '''Old Man House''' was the largest winter [[longhouse]] in what is now the [[U.S. state]] of [[Washington (state)|Washington]], once standing on the shore of [[Puget Sound]]. It was the center of the [[Suquamish]] village of {{Lang|lut|dxʷsəq̓ʷəb}} on [[Agate Pass]], just south of the present-day town of [[Suquamish, Washington|Suquamish]]. At one time, it was home to the famous Suquamish chiefs [[Chief Kitsap|Kitsap]] and [[Chief Seattle|Seattle]] (who was also half [[Duwamish people|Duwamish]]).

== Etymology and name ==
The [[Lushootseed]] name of the site upon which the house was located is {{Lang|lut|dxʷsəq̓ʷəb}}, meaning "clear salt water," and is the origin of the name of the Suquamish people: {{Lang|lut|dxʷsəq̓ʷəbš}} (which means "people of the clear salt water").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bates |first=Dawn |title=Lushootseed Dictionary |last2=Hess |first2=Thom |last3=Hilbert |first3=Vi |publisher=Lushootseed Press |year=1994 |location=Seattle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Waterman |first=T.T. |title=sdaʔdaʔ gʷəɬ dibəɬ ləšucid ʔacʔaciɬtalbixʷ - Puget Sound Geography |publisher=Lushootseed Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Home of the Suquamish People |url=https://suquamish.nsn.us/ |access-date=2023-05-16 |website=The Suquamish Tribe}}</ref>

The name "Old Man House" comes from the [[Chinook Jargon]] word "oleman" meaning "old, worn out," but also meaning "from the old times".<ref>Shaw, George Coombs. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=138aAAAAYAAJ&dq=Old+Man+House+chinook&pg=PA18 The Chinook jargon and how to use it.]''  Rainier Printing Company, inc., 1909.  p. 18.</ref> {{fv|date=September 2024}} "House" in Chinook Jargon refers to any kind of building, or even to individual rooms within them.

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2024}}
Archeological investigations have revealed that the village site was occupied for at least 2000 years.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Seattle Times|title=Old Man House Park|date=December 21, 2006|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/old-man-house-park/}}</ref> Accounts vary as to when the longhouse itself was constructed; many sources indicate it was built in the late 18th or early 19th century, but it might have been built earlier. Reports of the longhouse's size also vary, putting its length between 600 and 1000 feet (approximately 200–300 m).

The lands around Old Man House were retained by the Suquamish tribe after the [[Point Elliott Treaty]] was signed in 1855, becoming the [[Port Madison Indian Reservation]]. The longhouse was burned down by the U.S. government in 1870 under the orders of William DeShaw, the [[Indian agent]] at the reservation. Despite being a close friend of Chief Seattle, DeShaw ordered the Old Man House's destruction after Seattle's death to force the Suquamish to build single-family residences instead of communal dwellings. After it was burned, however, the Suquamish rebuilt their village at the site and continued to live there, which led to DeShaw resigning from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=David |date=August 25, 2016 |title=The Man Who Burned Down Chief Seattle's Lodge |url=https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/the-man-who-burned-down-old-man-house/ |access-date=May 14, 2024 |publisher=Seattle Weekly}}</ref>

In 1886 the federal government divided the reservation into allotments which were assigned to individual Suquamish families. In 1904 the U.S. War Department acquired land along Agate Pass, including the site of Old Man House, to build fortifications to protect the new naval shipyards at [[Bremerton, Washington|Bremerton]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} The destruction of the longhouse was intended to encourage the Suquamish to spread out across their reservation and take up farming.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} The village site had to be moved, and the tribe lost much of its water access. The fortifications were never built, and the land purchased by the military was eventually sold in 1937 to a private developer and subdivided for vacation homes. In 1950, the Washington Parks and Recreation Department purchased an acre of waterfront where Old Man House had been located and set it aside as a [[state park]]. The park was returned to the Suquamish Tribe on August 12, 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=7170 |title=Washington State Parks Commission gives Old Man House State Park to the Suquamish Tribe on August 12, 2004 |date=December 17, 2004 |access-date=March 16, 2012 |publisher=HistoryLink.org |first=Priscilla |last=Long}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Port Madison Indian Reservation]]
*[[Suquamish Museum and Cultural Center]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Citation
 | last =Jones
 | first =Nard
 | author-link =Nard Jones
 | year = 1972
 | title =Seattle
 | place =Garden City, New York
 | publisher =Doubleday
 | isbn =0-385-01875-4
 | page=74
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline}}

{{Registered Historic Places}}

{{coord|47.7241|-122.5577|type:landmark_region:US-WA|display=title}}

{{Indigenous peoples in Washington}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Kitsap County, Washington]]
[[Category:Coast Salish art and artifacts]]
[[Category:Native American history of Washington (state)]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Kitsap County, Washington]]