Roche Harbor
| Roche Harbor | |
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| Unincorporated community | |
Hotel de Haro
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 Roche Harbor
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| Coordinates: 48°36′35″N 123°08′56″W / 48.60972°N 123.14889°WCoordinates: 48°36′35″N 123°08′56″W / 48.60972°N 123.14889°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Washington |
| County | San Juan |
| Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
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Roche Harbor
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| Location | Northern San Juan Island, San Juan Island, Washington |
| Area | 140 acres (57 ha) |
| Built | 1886 |
| NRHP Reference # | 77001356 |
| Added to NRHP | August 29, 1977 |
Roche Harbor is a sheltered harbor on the northwest side of San Juan Island in San Juan County, Washington, United States, and the site of a resort of the same name. Roche Harbor faces Haro Strait and the Canada–United States border. The harbor itself provides one of the better protected anchorages in the islands. The harbor is surrounded on the east side by San Juan Island, on the north side by Pearl Island, and on the west and south sides by Henry Island. Most of the harbor is 35 to 45 feet (11 to 14 meters) deep. Roche Harbor has a small airport used primarily by local residents.
Roche Harbor is a designated U.S. port of entry. A Customs dock occupies a section of the marina, with Customs and Border Protection agents on duty during summer months. When agents are not on duty, arriving boaters must call Customs and Border Protection from the Customs Dock.
What is now Roche Harbor was once part of a thriving Coast Salish community known as whelaalk, or WH’LEHL-kluh, which extended from what is now Roche Harbor to Lonesome Cove opposite Speiden Island and in the mid-1800s had 10 large longhouses.
Other nearby communities included:
• KWUH-nuhs (“whale”), at Reid Harbor on Stuart Island.
• lhuh-LHEE-ng’kwulh, at the head of Open Bay on Henry Island. This was the home of sweh-TUHN, the earliest ancestor of the Lummi, Saanich, Samish and Songhees peoples.
• SMUH-yuh (Songhees) or Pe'pi'ow'elh (Lummi), at what is now called English Camp at San Juan Island National Historical Park. Evidence found at Pe'pi'ow'elh suggests this site had been continuously occupied at least from about 500 AD until 1860 when British Marines demolished a 600- to 800-foot longhouse on what became the parade ground of their garrison.
(This area is included in the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855, which made land available for newcomers. But the area's First Peoples retain certain resource rights throughout their historical territory, including Roche Harbor. In 2004 and 2008, Coast Salish canoes returned to WH’LEHL-kluh — Roche Harbor — as part of the annual Canoe Journey, a gathering of Northwest Native peoples. And in 2016, representatives of the Lummi Nation, Saanich First Nation and National Park Service conducted a ceremony at which a Reef Net Captain Totem Pole and two Salmon Story Boards were dedicated at Pe'pi'ow'elh — English Camp.)
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Wikipedia