October 9, 2023 is Indigenous Peoples’ Day in California, and Humboldt County is the ancestral home of multiple tribes, including the Wiyot people in the Eel River Valley/Humboldt Bay area encompassing Ferndale. Here are several places where you can learn about indigenous people, history, and culture during your visit.
In Ferndale: Stop by Mind’s Eye Manufactory & Coffee Lounge for a peek at the workshop where community members this year built an Unangax̂ open skin boat that was launched at Fort Ross (Metini) in Sonoma County—thought to be the first launch of its kind in more than two centuries. Mind’s Eye also has a large collection of books available for customers to browse about Humboldt County, the indigenous people of Alaska, woodworking, boat building, and more. You’ll also find a local history section at the Ferndale branch of the Humboldt County Library. To get outdoors, head to the Lost Coast Headlands just past Ferndale’s Centerville Beach, where you can learn about the indigenous history of the area along the upper trail (starting at the parking lot of the former naval base on the east side of the road, before the Fleener Creek trailhead).
In Eureka: The Wiyot Tribe’s Da Gou Rou Louwi' Cultural Center opened in Old Town Eureka in 2022 as “a space that’s dedicated to Native folks—a place where people can come in and learn and ask questions about the tribe.” Not far from the center, the Clarke Historical Museum and the Humboldt Room in the county’s main library branch hold opportunities for further inquiry. The city of Eureka made U.S. history in 2019 when it returned Tulawat Island, site of an 1860 white massacre of indigenous victims, to the Wiyot.
In Arcata: At the Cal Poly Humboldt library, the art and papers of Karuk tribal member Brian D. Tripp, “an internationally renowned artist, poet, traditional singer, and dancer,” will be on display through October 15, 2023.
In Trinidad: Sue-meg State Park offers the chance to see a reconstructed Yurok plank-house village and ceremonies, not to mention tidepools and breathtaking vistas where you can spot migrating whales. The park, previously known as Patrick’s Point, was renamed in 2021 at the request of the Yurok tribe. Free passes to many California state parks are available to check out at Humboldt County libraries, and can also be obtained online for California fourth graders and their families.
Multiple locations: The Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge offers education about local ecology and the Wiyot people’s historic relationship with the land along the Shorebird Loop Trail in Loleta (where the refuge’s visitor center is also located). The refuge’s Lanphere and Ma-le’l Dunes in Arcata (access by permit only) were recognized as a National Natural Landmark in 2021, in what a tribal botanist called an “homage to the Wiyot’s role and history as stewards and members of this place and the natural world.”
Photo: Centerville Beach, by León Villagomez for Visit Ferndale