Wawawai

Wawawai takes its name from a Nez Perce word understood to mean 'council ground,' a fitting origin for a community that once thrived along the Snake River in the south central part of Whitman County, Washington. Platted in 1878, the settlement grew around orchards lining the riverbanks and functioned for nearly a century before its end came not from abandonment but from inundation. When Lower Granite Dam was finished in 1975, the rising reservoir swallowed the former townsite beneath roughly 80 feet of water, erasing most of what had existed there.

Visitors today will not find ruins or remnants of the original settlement — the town itself lies submerged. What remains accessible is Wawawai County Park, situated along the Snake River at the site, which offers a place to take in the river scenery and reflect on the drowned history beneath the water.