Celebrating Women’s History Month 2024

Published on March 26, 2024

Shining a light on Women’s History Month, Ventura Harbor looks at the life of a Nicoleño Native American isolated for 18 years on San Nicolas Island during the 19th century.

Photo Courtesy of the Channel Islands National Park.

Better known as the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island (her Native American name is unknown), endured solitary life from 1835 to 1853 as the last Nicoleño tribe member on the remote Channel Islands. When she was found, she wore a skirt of cormorant feathers and lived in a whale bone hut and was left on the Island in 1835 when a boat took the remaining Nicoleño people to the mainland. She lived alone until George Nidever, a fisherman and sea otter hunter, discovered her in 1853 and brought her to the Santa Barbara Mission. There she discovered mainland novelties like horses and European items. Her songs, like the “Toki Toki,” lived on through recollections and offered a glimpse into her unique life.

Each year, Scott O’Dell’s Newbery Award winning novel Island of the Blue Dolphins introduces young people to the Channel Islands. O’Dell’s tale of the young girl Karana was inspired by the true story of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas. The story of the Lone Woman gives interesting insight to the lifeways of the native inhabitants of the Channel Islands.

To learn more about her story, visit https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/news/the-lone-woman-of-san-nicolas-island.htm or purchase a copy of Island of the Blue Dolphins at the Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center! They are open from 8:30am-5pm seven days a week in the Ventura Harbor.