Ozette is a historic Makah village at Cape Alava, the Olympic Peninsula’s westernmost point, about 19 miles (31 km) north-northwest of La Push and 15 miles (24 km) south-southwest of Neah Bay, Washington. The cape was named for José Manuel de Álava, who served as interim Spanish governor of Acapulco in 1790 and represented New Spain at the Nootka Convention. The village name derives from the Makah word ‘Ho-selth,’ while ‘Makah’ means ‘cape people.’ The cape’s geology stems from tectonic convergence between the oceanic and North American plates between the middle-late Eocene and late-middle Miocene (40 million to 14 million years ago), which produced two principal accretionary terranes along Washington’s margin. The only onshore mélange exposures occur along the peninsula’s west side, having been transported eastward by subduction-accretion processes. Geological exploration shows these complex rocks are widespread on Washington’s inner continental shelf. On the peninsula’s west coast, the terrane formed during the late Eocene is known as the Ozette mélange, while that formed in the late-middle Miocene is called the Hoh mélange. Broken formations are associated with the mélanges and consist of rock units that have been disrupted and no longer retain the original coherent stratigraphic succession. Cape Alava and the adjacent offshore islands belong to the Ozette mélange, composed mainly of sandstone and siltstone. On Ozette and Tskawahyah Islands, thick conglomerates of cobbles and pebbles—chiefly sedimentary—prevail. On the mainland, most of the Ozette bedrock is buried beneath glacial till and outwash deposits left by Pleistocene continental and alpine glaciers during the Fraser Glaciation. Established at a prime gray whale migration point, Ozette Village was occupied for more than two thousand years. Mudslides eventually buried the settlement, and the site has since yielded artifacts dating back at least 2,500 years.

Before European contact, the Makah lived in villages at Neah Bay, Ozette, Biheda, Tsoo-yess, and Why-atch. At Ozette they inhabited cedar‐plank longhouses—up to 70 feet long and 35 feet wide—constructed from planks lashed to upright posts. These structures, which housed multiple families and visiting relatives, formed the nucleus of communal life. The Makaw hunted and fished in the ocean, gathered intertidal shellfish, and foraged in the forest. About 300 years ago, heavy rains, possibly in combination with an earthquake, triggered the hillside above Ozette to slump, burying five longhouses in a mudslide. Some inhabitants escaped, while others were trapped; a cap of clay preserved the ruins and their contents. In 1788, British Captain John Meares noted the Pacific coast’s vast, dense forests and described the Olympic Peninsula. In 1790, Spanish explorer Manuel Quimper claimed Neah Bay for Spain, naming it Nuñez Gaona. Two years later, Spanish Captain Salvador Fidalgo established the first European settlement in Makah territory at Neah Bay. The settlers intended to remain permanently, but Spain soon retreated from the Pacific Northwest amid tensions with Great Britain. In 1834, a dismasted, rudderless ship carrying 14 Japanese sailors ran aground near Cape Alava after a typhoon swept it off course. The vessel, which had left Japan’s southeast coast in 1832 with rice and porcelain for Edo (now Tokyo), drifted 5,000 miles across the Pacific. Only three survivors—Iwakichi, Kyukichi, and Otokichi—reached the coast and were briefly enslaved by the Makah before being traded. They spent several months at Fort Vancouver and were sent on to London and China, never returning home. In 1855, Makah representatives signed the Treaty of Neah Bay with Isaac Stevens, governor of Washington Territory. The treaty ceded much of their traditional lands and confined them to a reservation, but preserved their rights to hunt whales and seals. This turbulent history encapsulates the intersection of indigenous resilience and European imperial ambition along the Pacific Northwest.

Following a winter storm in 1970, high tides and wave erosion at Cape Alava exposed hundreds of well-preserved wooden artifacts, including the Ozette longhouses. Buried centuries earlier by a massive mudslide, these longhouses and their contents—wood that normally decays, basketry, dog hair blankets, and dentalium shells—were recovered in later excavations. Oral tradition confirms the findings, enabling scholars to reconstruct daily life in Ozette, from longhouse construction and dress to whaling, sealing, fishing, social structure, slavery, ceremonies, and potlatches. Some 30,000 wooden artifacts were recovered, a rarity in archaeological sites. Hundreds of knives were also found, their blades fashioned from mussel shells, sharpened beaver teeth, and even iron that appears to have drifted from Asia on wrecked ships. Excavation work culminated in the 1979 opening of the Makah Museum, which now houses replicas of cedar longhouses and dioramas of traditional whaling, fishing, and sealing. Further work at Ozette uncovered whaling tools and more than 3,400 whalebones, some bearing embedded harpoon blades. Evidence indicates that gray and humpback whales were hunted frequently, while right and fin whales were targeted less often. Whale bones and baleen were fashioned into tools; bones served as building materials, and whale meat and blubber were central to the Makah diet. Analysis suggests whales provided over 75% of the meat and oil consumed, with some products entering trade. The artifacts confirm that the Makah were expert whale hunters and that whaling was central to their culture and economy. The exceptional preservation of these relics offers fresh insight into their maritime and terrestrial economies, as well as their social and ceremonial practices. This discovery has reshaped historical understanding of the Makah and underscores their enduring legacy as skilled artisans and hunters. Read more here and here. Explore more of Ozette and Cape Alava here: