Skull Island is the name of two small islands in the
San Juan Archipelago
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
. The northernmost Skull Island is located off the coast of
Orcas Island
Orcas Island () is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, which are in the northwestern corner of San Juan County, Washington.
History and naming of the island
The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of ''Horcasitas,'' fro ...
in Massacre Bay, the most northern extension of the island's West Sound. It is identified as Skull Island State Park Property by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.
[ It was named for holding skulls and bones of a band of ]Lummi
The Lummi ( ; Lummi: ''Xwlemi'' ; also known as Lhaq'temish (), or ''People of the Sea''), governed by the Lummi Nation, are a Native American tribe of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group. They are based in the coastal area of the Pacific No ...
who were killed by raiding Haida
Haida may refer to:
Places
* Haida, an old name for Nový Bor
* Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands
* Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia
Ships
* , a 1 ...
in 1858. Since 2013, it has been part of the San Juan Islands National Monument
San Juan Islands National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the Salish Sea in the state of Washington. The monument protects archaeological sites of the Coast Salish peoples, lighthouses and relics of early European American sett ...
.[
Another Skull Island in the same archipelago is located exactly fourteen miles south-southeast at in Mud Bay, part of Lopez Sound, between the Sperry Peninsula of ]Lopez Island
Lopez Island is the third largest of the San Juan Islands and an unincorporated town in San Juan County, Washington, United States. Lopez Island is in land area. The 2000 census population was 2,177, though the population swells in the summer, ...
and Fortress Island
Fortress Island is one of the San Juan Islands in San Juan County, Washington, USA. Located in Lopez Sound, the uninhabited, rocky island has a land area of and is almost completely devoid of vegetation. It is part of the Turtleback complex, a se ...
.[''Lopez Pass, WA,'' 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1973 (1981 rev.)]
See also
*Skull Islet
Skull Islet is a small islet just off the shore of South Pender Island in British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has ...
References
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San Juan Islands
State parks of Washington (state)
Parks in San Juan County, Washington
Uninhabited islands of Washington (state)