The Tse-whit-zen village site, located in the city of Port Angeles, is one of thirty-three known Klallam villages along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. European-Americans settled Port Angeles in the traditional territory of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe in the 1860s. Tribal people were forced from their land, and by 1920 a lumber mill was constructed on the site. During a dry dock construction project in 2003, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) uncovered the Tse-whit-zen village, a site buried under 100 years of industrial fill. 

Tribal elders and other regional experts did not know the exact village location, and early archaeological testing was misinterpreted. This proved costly, as the parties involved were not prepared to find the village and large cemetery. WSDOT halted the excavations after uncovering 80,000 objects and removing more than 300 burials. The non-burial portion of the collection is currently held in trust for the WSDOT at the Burke Museum. Future plans call for the collection to be moved to a Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal museum facility.