The Longhouse “House of Learning”

The Peninsula College Longhouse is the first traditional longhouse in the nation on a community college campus. It was built as a collaboration between the Peninsula College and six Tribes in our region, the Hoh, Quileute, Makah, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and the Lower Elwah Klallam. The Longhouse is known as the Longhouse “House of Learning” and it functions as an art gallery featuring Native artists as well as hosting tribal ceremonies and and a variety of programs from film screenings and classes to study halls and summer camps.

The interior great room is warm and welcoming, styled with updated features that are reminiscent of a traditional longhouse, including long benches along the walls, a skylight to represent a traditional smoke hole and sunlight cast onto the floor to represent a fire pit.

Native art and carvings line the walls of the great room. There are masks which represent traditional mythological creatures, drums, a painting, and an eagle blanket that was created as a joint project by a student group.

This is a detail of one of two wolf masks carved by Quileute Tribal Member David Jackson and designed by Evinjames Ashue of the Hoh Tribe.

I have additional photos of Longhouse artwork that I plan to post from time to time. There is some beautiful art there.