Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
The Washington State Committee on Geographic Names is considering a proposal to rename a 10.5-acre lake near Maggie Lake in the Tahuya area Nathaniel Sargent Lake, in honor of a Black man born into slavery who homesteaded in Seabeck. The lake is currently named Grass Lake, but until the 1990s was known as "N------ Slough."
The state is proposing renaming a lake and a slough north of Tahuya, changing names derogatory to Black people to new monikers celebrating two former slaves who lived in the area.
The Washington State Committee on Geographic Names last week approved nine proposals to rename features bearing a derogatory term that refers to Indigenous women. The proposals from tribes came in the wake of the U.S. Department of Interior's orders last year to rename geographic features throughout the country.
The committee also advanced initial proposals to rename four places: a spring in Garfield County, a creek in Okanogan County, and the slough and lake in North Mason County.
A 10.5-acre lake two miles north of Tahuya, just west of Maggie Lake, would be renamed Nathaniel Sargent Lake in honor of a Black man born into slavery who homesteaded in Seabeck. It is currently called Grass Lake, renamed from "N----- Slough" in the 1990s.
An unnamed 18-acre swamp two miles north of Tahuya would be named Rodney White Slough. White was born into slavery in Missouri, moved to Mason County in 1890 and homesteaded there. After White's death in 1913, the slough was given the same offensive name.
"The naming history of the two Mason County features is complex because of the multiple prior changes to the names of the features involved," the news releases from the state DNR states. "Current efforts are intended to appropriately commemorate the history of early settlement in the area."
The Washington State Committee on Geographic Names reviews each geographic name proposal twice, allowing for public comment and tribal consultation. Following these discussions, the committee decides whether to recommend that the Board of Natural Resources approve a name proposal.
Once the committee approves proposals that are up for final consideration, it forwards the recommendations to the Board of Natural Resources, acting as the Washington State Board of Geographic Names. If the board approves these recommendations, the approved names are added to the Washington Administrative Code and the board passes them along to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names for federal review.
Nathaniel Sargent Lake would commemorate a man born into slavery. Sargent settled in Seabeck and was elected justice of the peace. Alicia Charles and "Akuyea" Vargas of the Living Arts Cultural Heritage Project in Poulsbo, proposed both Tahuya changes. The two wrote that the name change would "honor a black pioneer who didn't receive the recognition he deserved during his lifetime."
Rodney White Slough would commemorate a man born into slavery in Missouri and moved to Mason County in 1890. He had a farm and a ranch, and cut some of the roads in the area that are still used today. He died in 1913.
According to the state DNR, the "area in which he had an orchard became known by the racist term of 'N----- Slough,' which appeared on a 1947 Metsker map of the area."
The proposal states the name change would provide "corrective history: reconciliation and healing of oppressive and harmful history that African Americans endured during that period."
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