Suquamish Memorial Cemetery
7066 N.E. South Street
Suquamish, Kitsap County, Washington 98392
(360) 779-4291
Also known as Saint Peter's Catholic Church Cemetery, Saint Peter's Mission Cemetery, Suquamish Cemetery. This cemetery is a tribal cemetery for members of the Suquamish Tribe of Washington.
It is estimated that the Suquamish had inhabited Bainbridge Island for at least 5,000 years before white settlers ever came to the Puget Sound. While their first significant camp was at Pleasant Beach, they had additional camps throughout the island, including those at Port Madison, Port Blakely, Eagle Harbor, Agate Passage, Restoration Point, and more. Suquamish traditionally wrapped their dead and put them into a tree with a few earthly possessions. If the tribe member were of particular importance, they would be laid in the forest in an above-ground canoe, over which would be some cover or lean-to for weather protection. The first Catholic missionaries to the area converted them from this above-ground ritual to the in-ground burials more customary of white Europeans and settlers. After signing the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855, which gave Bainbridge Island to the white settlers, this relegated tribe members to the Port Madison reservation (now called Suquamish) on the Kitsap Peninsula. A new burial ground was needed with their traditional lands no longer in their possession. The land where the Suquamish Memorial Cemetery now sits was originally land owned by George “Old George” Clafwha (1806-1914), a Suquamish tribesman, and nephew of Chief Seattle, who was well known throughout the Pacific Northwest. The oldest identifiable headstone belongs to 14 14-year-old Annie Utesed, who died in 1844. There are countless unknown and unmarked burials throughout the cemetery, some of which may be even older than this. Chief Seattle, who negotiated the terms of the Treaty of Point Elliott for the Suquamish, was buried here after he died in 1866.
Kitsap’s historic graveyards hold stories and mysteries
https://www.tidelandmag.com/articles/2022-09-spirited-away
