Side Trip - Kingcome

New Longhouse Totems being carved

Kingcome Pictograph

Inside the Carving Shed

Note the Color of the Water

Wolf Totem

Original Church in Kingcome as Written in Heard the Owl Call my Name

Using Shawl Bay as Headquarters, it is easy do to a great number of day trips to the surrounding areas by Dinghy. Places such as Wakeman Sound, Kingcome, Simoon Sound, are just a few of the great places we have gunkholed in our dinghies from Shawl.

We did not actually go up Kingcome this trip but thought this side trip was worth sharing from a few years ago. Kingcome is perhaps one of the most beautiful inlets on our coast and at its furthest reaches, lies the Village of Kingcome. The inlet is a beautiful color of pale green from all of the glacier melts in the area and once arriving at the head of Kingcome Inlet, there is a 2 mile river trip to get to the village. At one time, you could go on a guided tour of this village but lack of respect by the visitors has closed this village to the public. We can only hope that one day, the elders will once again vote to open their Village to the public perhaps with some restricted access and rules.
Kingcome Village was the site of the last Potlatch on our coast and is situated 2 miles upriver next door to the Halliday Ranch. The Halliday spread is historic as it was owned by the Indian Affairs agent Halliday that closed down the last potlatch at Kingcome in the early 1900's.
The book that most of us read in school "I heard the Owl Call my Name" by Margaret Craven is set at the Kingcome village and brings a perspective on missionary work with the Aboriginals up our coast.
I have also included a Pictograph outside the cliff wall at the head of Kingcome Inlet. A complete story on this pictograph and its artist can be found in "Two Wolves at the Dawn of Time" by Judith Williams. This pictograph is about 50' tall and about 25' wide.
The village itself is a contradiction with brand new School and medical facility and next door is the carving shed and the longhouse.... The population of Kingcome is on a constant up and down curve with the young people that now come back to learn the traditional ways after getting an education in either McNeil or other areas.
Mike and I along with Dave & Penny and Bill & Janyce did this trip via "High Speed Gunkhole" back in the summer of 2002.