Re-naming Patrick’s Point
to Sue-meg State Park

Jim Popenoe
Rev. July 2, 2022

On September 30, 2021, the California State Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously approved a request by the Yurok Tribe to change the name of Patrick’s Point State Park to Sue-meg State Park.  I updated my web site to reflect the change.

In actuality, this was a name restoration. Sue-meg is the original Yurok placename of the peninsula occupied by the park. And the name and place hold special significance to Yurok people. Anthropologist Thomas Waterman wrote in 1920:

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...

Sue-meg is also a concept.  According to the State Park brochure:

The village was named Sumêg – which means forever in Yurok – in the hope that the village would endure for generations to come.

Below are links to more information about the change:

Recommendation on Renaming of Patrick’s Point State Park
California State Parks Staff, September 30, 2021.

Commission approves Yurok Tribe’s request to rename Patrick’s Point SP
The Yurok Tribe News, September 30, 2021.

The Renaming of Patrick’s Point State Park to Sue-meg State Park
California Department of Parks and Recreation. [retrieved October 10, 2021]

Patrick’s Point State Park named for one of two possible Patricks
Ted R. Marcus | Ted's Images. [retrieved October 17, 2021]

Waterman, T.T. 1920. Yurok Geography. University of California. Reprinted by the Trinidad Museum Society, 1993.  Page 267 – Notes on Rectangle J, Note #11.