Penalties undetermined for disturbed cultural site at Rosario

Owners installed glamping tent platforms without permits

||| FROM SALISH CURRENT |||

The soil beneath Rosario Resort in Eastsound is like a historical tome, each layer a chapter in the story of human life here.

There was a Lummi community here in the time of the grandparents’ grandparents — before Robert Moran built Rosario Mansion in 1906–09, before the Newhall brothers milled lumber here in the 1880s and ’90s, before the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott opened this land for non-Native ownership. 

Jay Julius W’tot Lhem, a former Lummi Nation chairman who now leads the nonprofit Se’Si’Le, which protects Indigenous sacred sites, areas, resources and landscapes, said a longhouse was located here — a great home of wide cedar planks, held to posts and beams. Longhouses were shared by several families and were also gathering places for celebrations of milestones and for seasonal ceremonies.   

This is sacred ground to the Lummi people. The site is designated by San Juan County as an archaeological buffer and the cultural resources there are protected by state and federal laws. The Lummi Nation must be consulted before any excavation is done to ensure cultural resources are not disturbed. Work plans must be approved and permits issued in advance by the county. 

But that didn’t happen before the owners of Rosario Resort and Rosario Harbor installed glamping tent platforms here in April, according to the San Juan County Department of Community Development which investigated and issued a stop work order. 

Representatives of the Lummi Nation then made a site visit. The state Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation — DAHP — will determine how best to restore the site without disturbing cultural resources there. 

Kyle Dodd, deputy director of San Juan County Department of Community Development as well as Health and Community Services, said Rosario Resort owner Chris Robison and Rosario Harbor owner Beau Brandow “are on the same page” with the county and are “moving forward to resolve issues” related to the unpermitted work in the archaeological buffer. He didn’t know whether fines would be levied after mitigation is completed. 

“Typically, penalties are reserved for those that continue moving ahead (with unpermitted work) and ignoring us,” Dodd said. “As long as we’re on the right track here and we can resolve it, then we’ll have that conversation internally here with our prosecuting attorney on whether or not we think penalties are appropriate.” 

Cultural resources can range from shell middens to burials. It’s a sensitive subject and officials seemed reluctant to talk about what, if anything, may have been disturbed by the platform installations. 

“The following is all I can release at this time:  DAHP is working with Rosario Resort, San Juan County and the Lummi Tribal Historic Preservation Officer to ensure compliance with archaeological laws and regulations,” Allyson Brooks, state historic preservation officer, wrote in an email.

DAHP is working to ensure that no archaeological damage resulted from the construction of the tent platforms, in consultation with the county and Lummi THPO, she said.

Robison and Brandow installed 8-by-8-by-8-inch concrete piers that deck foundations can be put on, and they trenched for power outlets at different campsites. Digging was done for some of the concrete piers, Dodd said, and the work didn’t appear to be “very invasive.”

The stop-work order is the latest stumbling block for Robison in his efforts to make the historic site a sustainable investment. The investor bought Rosario Resort in April 2024 for $6.65 million from California oil company owner and Anacortes resident Jerry Barto, who owned Rosario for 16 years. But Barto retained ownership of 60 of 80 guest rooms, which he leased to Robison after some of Robison’s financing fell through. After a poor season of guest room rentals, Robison sold the marina, restaurant and pool in February 2025 to Brandow, owner of an outdoor excursion company.

Dodd said glamping platforms first appeared above the marina and a stop work order was issued for those. “That whole Rosario lower area is within an archeological buffer,” he said. “Well, they kind of pivoted and said, ‘OK, we won’t dig. We will just put driftwood and wood chips on top of the ground and install these pads for camping’.”

But county inspectors later found glamping platforms installed near Rosario Mansion and the county issued a notice of violation to both property owners with corrective action plans and time frames.

Dodd said tents and teepees installed on the platforms have since been removed. 

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