Update: Log House Museum readies for totem-pole celebration Friday

(UPDATED early Tuesday afternoon with totem pole’s arrival)

ORIGINAL REPORT, 2:01 AM: Later today, the former Admiral Way totem pole will arrive at its new home outside the Log House Museum, where we photographed site preparations on Monday. It will arrive under cover and will stay that way, so you won’t see it until Friday, when the renovated pole will be unveiled in a celebration with so many guests, the street will be closed to make room for them! The dignitaries’ list alone is long enough for a street closure; see it on the Log House Museum’s website. One of them is Diane Morgan, whose husband Michael Morgan was one of the pole’s carvers almost half a century ago. Looking ahead to the event, she shared some memories:

Now, after renovation work at Artech – which also restored the Rotary Viewpoint Park totem pole four years ago – the pole is ready for its new home. You’re invited to be part of the event launching the pole into its future, including a group photo, at 10:30 am Friday (June 6th), 61st and Stevens.

12:35 PM TUESDAY: The totem pole has arrived and has been installed – still covered up! – on its base on the east side of the Log House Museum’s lot. Here’s a quick video clip as the painstaking job of raising it concluded (go here if you don’t see it below):

Shortly, it’ll get a different, temporary cover so the protective blankets from the move can be removed. After that, we’ll have a full update on the installation and more on the plans for Friday. (Trivia point: The pole was carved from a tree that grew in nearby Schmitz Park.)

4 Replies to "Update: Log House Museum readies for totem-pole celebration Friday"

  • Jennifer June 3, 2014 (8:08 am)

    Thank you to the SWSHS/Log House Museum and all the other people involved with preserving this wonderful piece of West Seattle history. I grew up seeing this pole and it has always held a special place in my heart. I love that it has been restored and is being preserved and will have a new home at the Log House Museum. I enjoyed hearing Diane’s story about the poles creation. How fantastic it is now on tape for future generations. I won’t be able to make it to the unveiling on Friday but I will visit it at a later date! I hope the new pole at Admiral Way (which I also like very much) will live in the hearts of new generations of children as this one did in mine.

  • Breen June 3, 2014 (8:26 am)

    Thank you Clay for all the hard work you have been doing to make everything happen. Hopefully you have lots of volunteers also helping as it seems to be a daunting job pulling all of this together.

  • Clay Eals June 3, 2014 (9:19 am)

    Thanks for the kind words. Yes, we have volunteers for Friday’s big unveiling and for several other major events this month and next. But we always could use more. To sign up, please visit http://www.loghousemuseum.info/volunteer/events-this-spring-need-your-help/, and to get an in-person introduction to volunteering, please attend our next Volunteer Intro at 11 a.m. this Saturday, June 7. See http://www.loghousemuseum.info/volunteer/next-volunteer-intro-session/.

  • sophista-tiki June 3, 2014 (10:21 am)

    YAY! ^Thanks for saving the totem pole!I did my UW Museum Studies Practicum at the Log House Museum and the totem pole even though pre restoration was still my favorite object.

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