Shakes House completed, ready for rededication

Construction on the Chief Shakes Tribal House wrapped up on Friday, Dec. 14 as the rebuilding effort marked a major milestone with an open house and the official completion of work in an effort that took a year to finish and cost just around $1 million.

The cedar structure, which was the home of Chief Shakes VII, the last leader of the Wrangell tribe, began its transformation in 2011 and has seen a brand new house rise in the place of the former.

Todd White, a lifelong Wrangell resident, is the project manager for the renovation and oversaw the rebuilding.

“When we first came into the project there were a few problems going on and the project wasn’t really going anywhere,” White said. “What we did was we tried to bring our expertise of getting stuff done to this project where we could get it done. We knew it was going to be a lot of work. We knew it was going to be rewarding work. I never had built one of these before.”

White, who along with his four-man crew of local workers rebuilt the structure with cedar donated by Sealaska, also utilized the adzing skills of numerous carvers from Wrangell and other parts of Southeast. White also added that the building is now ready for rededication – and that installing pieces of traditional Tlingit art is the final step that will take place once the weather turns to sunnier, drier days.

“When we get a good shot of weather in the spring and it’s good for moving the artwork out of the museum, we’re going to go ahead and move the screen back in and get it set up with master carver Steve Brown and also put our corner posts back in,” he said.

Music was a large part of the event with members of the Tlingit tribe practicing drums and singing in the large interior of the house while practicing for the rededication ceremony scheduled for next year.

Marge Byrd is an Elder for the Native community of Wrangell and was at the open house with members of her family. She related what she thought was the importance of the new building for the tribe and the community.

“It goes farther than just having a new Shakes house,” Byrd said. “We know it will bring back our culture and we have to just work together and keep pushing. We got a good start. We have the house… it’s done.”

While most of the traditional music during the gathering came from the Raven clan, Virginia Oliver, a member of the Eagle clan, played a Paddle Song for Byrd in remembrance of a family member who recently passed away. After the open house, Oliver said she was glad that the renovation brought work to the community and that it would be essential to reinvigorating Tlingit culture in the area.

“It does bring work to our people just like it did in 1940,” Oliver said. “It did bring work to our tribal members and it also is opening up work so that we can sustain our way of life. It’s going to be the foundation for our language and language is the foundation for our culture.”

Dixie Hutchinson grew up in Wrangell and her family has a long connection to the house and Shakes Island. She said the renovation was the first the community had seen in nearly two decades – and would be a source of pride for the entire city.

“I think it’s really important because the community has come together for a large project and I think that has been missing here for some time,” Hutchinson said. “The last big project we had here was the canoe that was done with Wayne Price and Steve Brown back in the 90s. That really showed how much the community wanted to come together for a project, so not only is this representing all of the clans in Wrangell but it’s actually bringing the whole community together, not just the Native community.”

The rededication of Shakes Island – and the arrival of more than 1,000 guests who will visit Wrangell for the momentous, once in a lifetime event – is scheduled for May 3-4 of next year.