Our night was spent traveling south along the Haida Gwaii Archipelago, making our way to our morning destination of SGang Gwaay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Designated by UNESCO for its importance of being the oldest known Indigenous village where mortuary and memorial poles stand in situ. They were carved and erected in the 1800s in the village of SGang Gwaay Linagaay, representing one of the best examples of a traditional northwest coast First Nations village.
SGang Gwaay is located on the southwestern tip of the Haida Gwaii Archipelago, creating quite a difficult place for travelers to reach. The village is in an extremely protected bay where adverse weather is otherwise a constant.
Our day was spent being escorted by Haida Watchmen through standing poles, house pits, and standing posts and beams of longhouses. Our group was divided into four groups, and each group had a chance to walk along a boardwalk through the forest and then come into the village to not only see and photograph the site but also take a moment to just be quiet and absorb the presence of the handcrafted carved poles and the presence of the ancestors.
