History & Heritage

April 9, 2025
Post By: Shenise Ramirez, Communications Coordinator
Oral history is a powerful tool used within the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area to preserve stories, activate archives, and connect communities across generations. While oral storytelling has long been used to share knowledge, modern technology offers new ways to record and share these narratives. However, building the skills to create inclusive,...

January 29, 2025
Post by Kiley Neil, Visitor Services & Collections Assistant of the Northwest Railway Museum
After the Civil War, the roots of the civil rights movement began to take shape within the Pullman Sleeping Car Company, the pioneer of luxury sleeping cars. In 1867, George Mortimer Pullman, the company’s founder, introduced ‘The President’—a luxurious sleeping coach equipped with an attached kitchen and dining car that offered personal service to...

October 29, 2024
Post By: Jim Fossett 
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
The Yakama Nation has a century-long history with the Ellensburg Rodeo, a four-day event in historic Kittitas Valley where tribes have practiced their traditions since time immemorial. Families today can trace their ancestry to Craig’s Hill, Naneum, and Chelohan, a northeast Ellensburg intertribal meeting ground.     The fairgrounds at Craig’s Hill and the rodeo arena...

June 26, 2024
Written by Cynthia Brothers
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
Seattle has a history of complex and overlapping policies that maintained intergenerational wealth and power among Whites and excluded many Indigenous, Black, people of color, and immigrants from homes, schools, upwardly mobile jobs, and other institutions. Greater Seattle has been home to Coast Salish people for thousands of years. When the first White settlers...

March 10, 2023
Post by Shenise Ramirez, Communications Coordinator
Women have been at the forefront of wildlife, cultural, and environmental conservation efforts in Washington State for many years. From preserving native languages and cultural heritage to protecting salmon habitat and advocating for more inclusive research practices, these women have made historic contributions to these fields. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, it’s essential...

February 22, 2022
Guest post from author Alisa Weis
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
Written by Alisa Weis, and originally published in the Northern Kittitas County Tribune.  Click to read part 1, part 2, and part 3 of this series. Chamara Smith was mourning the loss of her grandmother, Joyce, when she was recently greeted by a blueish gray hummingbird that wanted to linger. This one didn’t come to simply...

February 22, 2022
Guest post from author Alisa Weis
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
Written by Alisa Weis, and originally published in the Northern Kittitas County Tribune.  Click to read part 1 and part 2 of this series. While true that tensions eased after the strike of 1888/1889 ended and that Black and white miners worked together, the Craven family still experienced barriers because of their color. Ethel Craven-Sweet said...

February 10, 2022
Guest post from author Alisa Weis
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
Written by Alisa Weis, and originally published in the Northern Kittitas County Tribune.  Read part 1 of this series here. Back in 1900, 22% of Roslyn was comprised of African American residents. The majority of Black families arrived in 1888/1889, after the call for labor in the mines was sounded by Jim Shepperson, a Black businessman...