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Seattle Revisited

© Jerri Brooker

We started our journey around Washington State with a visit to Seattle in May. There's so much to see and do, I decided we need to descend on the city again and have some fun learning a bit of the history of the city. Then we'll visit some fun festivals, such as Bumbershoot!

First the history.

How many of you know about the great Seattle fire of 1889? A wood shop in a basement across from the Opera House was where the first embers ignited as hot glue spilled out on the wooden floor covered with shavings. The Opera House then went up in flames, as did the Seattle Times newspaper after they headlined the event. No June 7 paper, the day after, was printed by the Times.

Eventually thirty city blocks were enveloped in flame and the city became a ghost of the town it once was. Unbelievable.

What was even more unbelievable: the city rebuilt itself over the devastation - some of that Northwest Spirit I have been telling you about. We don't give up easy here in the Northwest!

If you come to visit, the Seattle Underground Tour portrays a vision of what the city was like before it burned to the ground. The tour starts in a restaurant (you can drink a "mocha" while you wait for the tour) and wanders the underground city of the "first" Seattle prior to that woeful event. You will actually be walking on old city sidewalks underground! This site also highlights a book about the event (there are many)if you are interested in knowing more.

Seattle, like any big city, has a colorful history. I prefer to give you a short overview of where to find history information, since this is not a history site, but a people site. And the following is one of the best museums of area pioneer history you will encounter.

The Museum of History and Industry in Seattle is a great place to view the city from its beginnings through actual memorabilia from the 1780's to the present day.

What's even greater; the museum has access to over 800,000 books, manuscripts, photos, etc., - you may actually order photo reprints of what your interest is, including the great Seattle fire, if you can't visit in person.

I urge you to make this museum (there are lots of them in Seattle) one of your stops in the University District area if you do come to the city. Plan to spend the day in the area if you make it to our great city. It's near the University of Washington Campus and Hospital. Follow links to Pacific Science Center and Bill Nye the Science Guy(he's from Seattle). Click here for more links. While you are there visit the Computer Science and Engineering site for weather and other great links about what's happening in Seattle. Visit the Seattle Art Museum from this link.