Frequently Asked Questions

Sumeg village was built by modern Yurok people using modern tools but with traditional materials in the traditional style of a permanent village. The primary building material is split redwood planks, as used by the Yurok people since time immemorial.
"Sumeg" is the Yurok placename for the peninsula occupied by the park. A 1920 map by Thomas Waterman put the name, "sū'mig, Patrick's Point", near what today we call Palmer's Point. There is no record of a permanent village actually on the peninsula. The nearest villages were Tsurai near the present town of Trinidad, and multiple villages around Big Lagoon.

It is one place of connections linking the past to the present and future. The modern Yurok live in modern houses in a modern world. Still, many Yurok enjoy the brush dances and other cultural traditions of their heritage. Sumeg Village is one of the places where these traditions are still enjoyed.

The two redwood dug-out canoes were built by Yurok people using modern tools, but in traditional style. Before they had modern tools, dug-out canoes were built with equal skill, but much more laboriously using sharpened stone tools and fire. Consequently, each canoe had great value and could be used only by persons who could be trusted to excercise ability, care, and judgement.
The Yurok built canoes of several sizes. The ones at the village are relatively small, approximately the size that would have been used on the Klamath river. The Yurok also built some much larger, ocean-going canoes. There is a replica of a larger canoe at the Redwood Information Center in Orick, 15 miles north of Sue-meg State Park.

Waterman, T.T. 1920. Yurok Geography. University of California. Reprinted by the Trinidad Museum Society, 1993. Page 267 – Notes on Rectangle J, Note #11:
“sū'mig - a point called by the whites Patrick’s Point. The promontory and the region back of it are celebrated in Yurok song and story...”