Before it was called Corvallis, it was called Marysville. Before it was called Marysville, it was called Averys. Before it was called Averys, it was called Tcha Peenafu – transliterated as Chepenefu, the Elderberry Grove.
The most conspicuous feature of the region where the Marys River or Champinefu flows into the Willamette or Willamala was once blue elderberry bushes. Kalapuyas would converge from around the Willamette Valley to pick elderberries and dry them to store for Winter.
You don’t see many elderberry bushes around these days. That’s one more sign of how much has changed since the Kalapuya Nation was displaced by the newborn State of Oregon.
On the night of Nov. 11, a group of people met in Riverfront Commemorative Park, at Shawala Point, the place of the confluence of the two rivers, to plant four elderberry bushes as both a symbolic and a practical gesture. Symbolic of a desire to remind people of what used to be here, and of who lived here before our own culture arrived. Practical because elderberries are tasty and nutritious, and many people think it’s a good thing when food grows free for the picking.
This planting was sponsored by the Illahee Spirit Runners and Deep Green Resistance Eugene.
For more information about this planting, check out the Illahee Spirit Runners.
By: John M. Burt
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