Seattle’s First Christmas

 Just a little perspective this holiday season .....

Nineteen year old David Denny walked from the Williamette Valley of Oregon to select a place for settlement in the remote Puget Sound region of what was to become Washington State.  He selected a spot known to the local Indians as Smaquamox (todays Alki Point), a point of land on the salt water shoreline with a gentle beach.

David, an experienced outdoorsman already, had promised to be building cabins for a party coming by ship. The party landed on November 13, 1851. But there was no village of completed cabins!  David had somehow managed to cut his foot badly with the axe and his body was consumed by fever. A single four wall cabin had been begun but had no roof - and there were 24 people in need of shelter!

By Christmas Day, the first cabin had been completed, a larger cabin built and two Indian style homes as well!

The Denny family (Arthur, Mary Anne, and their three children; David and Louisa Boren) moved into the larger cabin, the Boren family (Carson, Mary, and their daughter) took the smaller cabin, the Low family (John, Lydia, and their four children) took one of the Indian style homes, while the Bell family (John, Sarah Anne, and their four children) occupied the other.  There were also two additional bachelors, Charles and Terry Lee, whom were rotated around the homes.  This was the arrangement that first Christmas, outside of a few curious Indians, who frequented this area.

Since Arthur Denny’s house was the largest, it was selected as the place for the community celebration. Louisa took the children into the forest to collect cedar boughs for decoration.  They gathered armfuls of Oregon Grape (a shrub with a leaf like Holly) for making wreaths.  The wreath over the door was tied together with the red ribbon from Louisa’s hair, into a festive bow.

Other women cooked two geese David had caught, potatoes and salmon were provided by the local Duwamish Indians, pies were baked from dried apples brought from Illinois. A small amount of tea was shared and the kids all drank clam juice.

In addition, there was a major push to repair the soles of shoes and mend clothing.  By Christmas morning 1851, it was a far different band of settlers whom gathered together.  Before they had started out on their journey, Louisa, had hidden small toys and trinkets for this very day, for the children. 

From the Duwamish settlement (about six miles away in Tukwila), came two of the bachelors, whom canoed over to join the event!  By all oral and written accounts, it was a truly joyous day of celebration.