Totem Pole Depicts Port Ludlow's Evolution

Burner Point

The next time you visit Port Ludlow, take the short stroll from the Inn to Burner Point, a circle of lawn overlooking the Bay, and view the totem pole at its center.

Designed specifically for this site by David Boxley, a Tsimshian carver from Metlakatla, Alaska, the pole depicts the evolution of Port Ludlow from its past natural state to its present state as a residential community, in six Tsimshian figures.

Standing 40-feet high, the pole is carved from a Western Red Cedar tree located on the Olympic Peninsula at Nolan Creek, south of the Hoh Rain Forest. A wind storm in 1993 blew the 720-year-old tree to the ground, and Boxley chose it from amongst several trees for the Burner Point totem.

The initial cuts to the log were made at a sawmill in Gorst, outside of Bremerton, and the balance of the carving was done in a temporary shelter erected near to the pole’s present site.

Starting from the top, the figures are:

Eagle and Bear

The Eagle – representing the state prior to any human occupation.

The Bear – representing the ancestors of the local S’Klallam tribe.

Two Men with Locked Arms – Mr. Pope and Mr. Talbot, owners of the sawmill formerly located in Port Ludlow.

The Lumberman – representing the period of the sawmill, 1852-1935.

Inn At Port Ludlow in the Distance

The Beaver – representing the building phase of Pope Resources.

The Six Interlocking Figures – representing the people and community of Port Ludlow.

According to Boxley, one of the six figures represents an actual person. Tony Puma, who was the construction project manager for the Inn and apparently conceived the idea to place a totem pole at Burner Point, is the mustached man with the cell phone.

The pole was completed and raised in 1995.

Source: Port Ludlow Voice, June 2000