The Sammamish Heritage Society

02/07/2025

We're coming into the final stretch for finishing the restoration of the Reard House in Big Rock Central Park. The exterior has been done for months and the interior is nearly ready. When complete, the interior rooms will include exhibits with photos and artifacts from Plateau history. The public will be able to visit on open days and even rent the main floor (including commercial-grade kitchen) for private events, similar to the Pine Lake Community Club (but in an even nicer location ).

The SHS would greatly appreciate any donations (tax deductible) to help us pay for fixtures and finishes inside. To donate, please visit our GoFundMe page at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-complete-the-reard-house-restoration?attribution_id=sl:424dba9f-870b-42dd-91c0-f94f3efb0599
Thank you!

Sammamish Heritage Society of Sammamish Washington is comprised of a small g… Pat Kelsey needs your support for Donate to Complete the Reard House Restoration

01/10/2024

Reard House as it appears today in Big Rock Park Central. Work is still being done on the interior with the refinishing of the floors the most recent accomplishment.

12/31/2022

Reard House Update:

We’ve started painting the trim!

Todd Alexander is pictured pre-painting the cove molding that will go in the main room, museum room, and the office upstairs.

02/08/2022

Join the Sammamish Heritage Society. Become a member by downloading and filling out the form linked below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10mLTxVds6oqIqeGHPqG1gYcFWxwC3yB1/view?usp=sharing

01/07/2022

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝗲?

Laughing Jacobs Lake sits in a wooded area behind the fire station at Issaquah-Pine Lake Road.

It was named after Jacob Jones (1825-1905), a wealthy Issaquah resident, who owned a shingle mill near the southeast corner of Pine Lake between roughly 1893 and 1900.

According to Robert Hitchman’s 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯, two early settlers, William Bush and Wilford Stewart, named the lake after Jacob Jones when they heard him trying to imitate a loon’s cry on the lake. The lake also became informally known as Sutter’s Lake and Sutter’s Mill Pond during the first half of the twentieth century, named after the Sutter family, who owned property on the lake and ran a nearby mill during that time.

11/27/2021

Today is Native American Heritage Day. In an effort to honor the land where we live and learn, as well as the Indigenous Nations who have tended to it for generations, we acknowledge that we live and work on the ancestral lands of Coast Salish Peoples who have reserved treaty rights to this land. We honor all these native communities and pay our respects elders past and present. This calls us to commit to continuing to learn about, acknowledge the history, and raise awareness about the land we inhabit.

Interactive map to find indigenous territories, treaties, and languages: https://native-land.ca/

Learn more about the Snoqualmie Tribe Ancestral Lands Movement: https://snoqualmietribe.us/snoqualmie-tribe-ancestral-lands-movement/

Read about how the City of Sammamish pledged to support the Snoqualmie Tribe Ancestral Lands Movement: https://www.sammamish.us/news-events/archived-news?id=57687

Read about the Marie Louie paddle installation at Tibbets Beach (pictured) at Lake Sammamish State Park. https://www.lakesammamishfriends.org/blog/marie-louie-paddle-arrived-tibbetts-beach

11/25/2021

Edit: Date of newspaper blurb is corrected. Was 100 years off! 😲

Here is a fun Thanksgiving Day find from the Monohon Briefs section of the Issaquah Independent from November 27, 1908. (The group photo is for reference and from a 1955 article.)

At the time the brief was posted, the Allen & Nelson Mill company was a modern logging mill that brought an increased population to the Monohon area. Between 1906 and 1911, the population of the area grew from 50 to 300 homes.

Today, and every day, we are thankful to our volunteers who strive to learn about, preserve, and share the rich history of the area we now call the City of Sammamish. We are also grateful for you, our diverse and curious community.

We wish you a wonderful day whether it is with a "fine fat turkey" or something else. How are you spending the day?

11/22/2021

"Old Mary Louie" or "Aunt Louie" was a member of the Snoqualmie tribe and a local legend who lived on the eastern shores of Lake Sammamish from the mid 1800s until her death in the summer of 1918. While it is known she was born in Tolthue (on land which is now known as Carnation), her actual birth year is unknown and guesses vary widely. She was likely around 100 years old when she died, although some claim she was as old as 120.

According to her great-granddaughter, Leona Eddy, Mary Louie and her sister both lost their husbands in a battle in Tolt in around 1862. Eddy recalled in a story she was told that the two then went off to the Duwamish tribe to find new husbands and returned to resettle at Lake Sammamish when it was called Squak Lake.

Another great-granddaughter, Mary Hinzman, said she was told by her grandmother that Old Mary never wore shoes and would walk barefoot from Redmond to Yakima to pick hops--a trip that could take 21 days. Mary Louie often traveled by canoe and was well-known in the area as a midwife, healer, and herbalist. While Mary Louie never learned English, she was friendly with many of the pioneers in the area.

In her memoir, Squak Valley: A Tale of Old Issaquah, Bessy Wilson Craine (1882-1964) recalled:

"One old Indian woman became very dear to my heart. As I first remember her she had white hair and always walked very stooped and carried a crooked stick for a cane. I called her Aunt Louie. As the years went on I think my whole family came to love her. Every fall she brought Mother wild blackberries, 'Olallies,' in an Indian basket made of roots and reeds. They were waterproof. She would line the basket with ferns then cover the berries with ferns. I can see her old, withered hands now, uncovering them so carefully to show Mother what she had brought."

What stories have you heard about Mary Louie?

11/09/2021

Hey, why is THAT there?

You may have wondered, as you drove into the Metropolitan Market’s lower parking lot, why is there a mural of a Burlington Northern caboose on the wall?

Well, before Met Market was built, the site was an old farm and the owner had an old caboose that sat in the yard for years. When he sold the property he took the caboose with him, but the memory of it inspired the current mural.