Place names can lead us on fascinating journeys into other cultures. They convey a people’s relationship to the land, their sense of place. For indigenous peoples, place names can also be central to the revival of endangered languages.

This book takes readers on an exciting voyage into the history, language, and culture of the Nooksack Tribe of Washington State and southern British Columbia. Allan Richardson and Brent Galloway trace the richness and strength of the Nooksack people’s connection to the land by documenting more than 150 places named by elders and mentioned in key historical texts. Descriptions of Nooksack history and naming patterns – combined with maps, photographs, and detailed linguistic analyses – give life to a nearly extinct language and illuminate the intertwined relationships of place, culture, language, and identity.

Allan Richardson's profile page

Brent Galloway's profile page

Allan Richardson is a consulting anthropologist, retired from teaching at Whatcom Community College, Bellingham, Washington. Brent Galloway is a professor emeritus at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina. Foremost experts in their fields, they have thirty years of experience locating, visiting, and documenting Nooksack places.