A People's History of Lake Forest Park
This manuscript has been prepared under the auspices of the Shoreline Historical Museum by David M. Buerge, Historian, Teacher and Writer, author of Chief Seattle and the Town that Took His Name (Sasquatch, 2017).
The Shoreline Historical Museum honors the Indigenous existence of the place we now call Lake Forest Park. The Museum thanks the individual residents of Lake Forest Park whose initiation of this project and generous financial contributions have made this manuscript possible.
Sponsored by the Shoreline Historical Museum, the results of Mr. Buerge’s research are being made freely accessible to all as a download of his manuscript as well as maps that he hand-sketched and accompanying keys.
This is a living document. You are free to download the manuscript and materials for your use and enjoyment but note that this work is still a “work in progress” and has not been fully edited. You may discover some typos or grammatical errors, missing footnotes, and so on. It is being released now in its present state because of the great interest it has raised, but work will continue on refining it with hope that its accessibility will lead to derivative works and related projects, such as educational material, that will also be made freely available to all.
With this in mind, if you would like to be notified when updates are made to this material, please fill out and submit the form below with your name and email. We’d also like to hear from you what your interest is in the work and how you’re thinking of using it.
Please keep in mind that the Lushootseed words found in this document are based on the author’s research and spelled phonetically. You can find more about the Lushootseed language here.
To supplement his stories and description of life in the area we now call Lake Forest Park, Mr. Buerge sketched the map above to call out certain places, flora and fauna, footpaths, and locations of homes and fishing camps. He prepared an extensive key to his map that you may view or download.
The official release of David Buerge’s manuscript took place on October 19, 2025, at Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park. The museum is grateful to Gary Hawkey for recording and editing the event that you can view here.
