Whitman Mission National Historic Site

How Does Learning a New Perspective Change How You View Things? Walking the grounds at Whitman Mission, you will see this question posted on the interpretive panels. The National Park Service will replace these panels at the end of 2022 or early 2023. Currently, on the panels it states that the information listed includes one-sided representations of history and perpetuates harmful stereotypes. These depictions were wrong when created and are still wrong today. Truthfully telling this history requires the inclusion of multiple perspectives. The panels will be updated in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Whitman Mission National Historic Site is located just west of Walla Walla, at the site of the former Whitman Mission at Waiilatpu. Waiilatpu means "people who sway like grass when they dance," a name given by the Nez Perce. Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa established a Protestant mission on the site in 1836. The Whitman's lost a daughter to drowning, adopted an orphaned family and in 1847 lost their lives in an attack. The Whitman Mission website asks, "Was killing the Whitmans justified legal retribution, an act of revenge, or some combination of both?"

At the Whitman Mission, you can watch a video about the Whitman's journey on the Oregon Trail to Waiilatpu, visit the museum, walk the trail along the former mission site, see the Great Grave, and hike up the hill to the Whitman monument. There is no fee to walk the trail where others walked in the early 1800s. Visualize what it might have been like at the mission at this educational National Historic site so close to where you live today. Decide if learning a new perspective will change how you view things!