Qualla: Blake Island

Blake Island: Introduction

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ron Clausen, CC BY-SA 4.0. The forested island rises from Puget Sound, its beaches wild and its interior thick with second-growth cedar and fir. This is Blake Island, just 8 miles from downtown Seattle yet accessible only by boat - a 475-acre marine state park that feels far more remote than its distance suggests. Chief Seattle was born here, or so the widely-accepted tradition holds, on this island used for generations as a Suquamish camping ground. Today the beaches offer views of the Olympic Mountains to the west and the Seattle skyline to the east, a perspective that captures both the wildness that defined this region and the city that changed it.

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Image: Ron Clausen | CC BY-SA 4.0

Blake Island: Chief Seattle's Birthplace

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit E.M. Sammis, Public domain. The Suquamish people used Blake Island as a camping ground long before European explorers noted its existence. Tradition holds that Chief Seattle - Si'ahl in his native language, the leader for whom the city was named - was born here around 1790. His father was Schweabe, chief of...

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Image: E.M. Sammis | Public domain

Blake Island: From Mansion to State Park

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PerryPlanet, Public domain. Seattle millionaire William Pitt Trimble purchased the island in the early 20th century, building a magnificent estate and renaming it Trimble Island for a time. The Camp Fire Girls held their first summer camp here in 1920, naming it Camp Sealth in honor of the chief's birthplac...

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Image: PerryPlanet | Public domain

Blake Island: Wilderness at the City's Edge

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Walter Siegmund (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. Five miles of saltwater beach ring Blake Island, offering beachcombing opportunities that urban parks cannot match. The cold, clear waters support clams, oysters, and the geoducks that burrow deep in the sand. Crabs hide under rocks at low tide. Sea stars in improbable colors cli...

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Image: Walter Siegmund (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Blake Island: Arriving by Water

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lumpytrout, CC BY-SA 3.0. No ferry serves Blake Island - visitors arrive by private boat, kayak, or charter. The park offers 24 mooring buoys and 1,500 feet of dock space on a first-come basis, and on summer weekends they fill quickly. Kayakers launch from Manchester on the Kitsap Peninsula, the closest a...

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Image: Lumpytrout | CC BY-SA 3.0