Explore the past and present near San Juan Island's American Camp

For the past 20 years, Julie Stein, executive director of the Burke Museum and a professor of Archaeology at the University of Washington, has led walking tours on the southern edge of San Juan Island in Washington’s Strait of Juan de Fuca within the Salish Sea. The people who come on these tours are curious about one thing: stories of people and place. And on Julie’s tour, those stories extend back thousands of years.

This year marked what may be Julie’s last tour, but if you didn’t get to go on one, you can still draw on your powers of observation and curiosity—as well as this DIY (do-it-yourself) tour guide—to enjoy a rich investigation into the past and present of San Juan Island.

Julie Stein, executive director of the Burke Museum, has offered archaeology-based walking tours on San Juan Island for the past 20 years, but the premise of her tours can be readily adapted by anyone—it all starts with questions. Photo credit: John Howell, Cedar River Group

A homecoming for Sooke the orca

Puget Sound Southern Resident orcas swim off the shore
of San Juan Island in August 2011. (Photo: Cathy Britt)

The return of the J, K and L Pod Southern Resident orcas to their home waters near the San Juan Islands this week came on the heels of another homecoming of sorts. The Burke returned the skeletal remains of Sooke (also known as Victoria), a former member of the L pod, to her new home at the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor. 



When three-year-old Sooke (L-112) washed ashore near Long Beach, WA in early February,researchers examined her remains to try and determine how she died. Shortly after, the Whale Museum began cleaning her skeleton to make it a permanent part of the museum.