Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Neah Bay, WA

Neah Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Makah Reservation in Clallam County, at the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula — the northwesternmost community on the mainland United States, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Neah Bay's Makah name is di·ya, and its English name honors the Makah Chief Dee-ah, whose name was pronounced 'Neah' in the Klallam language.

The bay collected several names before 'Neah Bay' stuck: Spain called it Bahía de Núñez Gaona in 1790, the Wilkes Expedition charted it as Scarborough Harbour in 1841, and British Captain Henry Kellett renamed it Neah Bay in 1847.

In 1792 Spanish officer Salvador Fidalgo began building a Spanish fort at Neah Bay, but the project failed within the year and its cannons and supplies were moved north to Santa Cruz de Nuca.

Archaeological research suggests Makah people have inhabited the Neah Bay area for more than 6,000 years, traditionally living in large western red cedar longhouses.

The Treaty of Neah Bay, signed in 1855, established the Makah Reservation, and it remains the only treaty between the United States and a Native tribe that specifically mentions whaling rights.

The 2020 census counted 935 people in Neah Bay, up from 865 people in 282 households at the 2010 census, when about 77 percent of residents were Native American.

Neah Bay's Makah Museum, part of the Makah Cultural and Research Center, displays artifacts from the Ozette village, a Makah settlement partly buried by a mudslide around 1750 that preserved a snapshot of pre-contact tribal life, including a replica longhouse, canoes and whaling gear.

Neah Bay is famous among anglers for halibut fishing — often described as the best in the lower 48 states — as well as salmon and bottom fish, and fishing and tourism sustain the local economy.

A state-funded emergency response tug has been stationed at Neah Bay since 1999 to keep disabled ships from grounding in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and it has saved 41 vessels; the U.S. Coast Guard also maintains a base in the community.