Sorry, the book
Twelve Walks Around Olympia is no longer available
from us... but Fireside
Books on Legion in downtown Olympia keeps it in stock. You
can go by their store (open 10-6 Monday through Saturday and
shorter hours on Sundays) or phone them at 360-352-4006. Their
email is firesidebookstore@msn.com.
There's a map at the bottom of this page....
WALK #5: Olympia’s Eastside
Olympia’s Eastside walk will show you grand views of the
State Capitol and beyond to the Black Hills, vintage homes including
one built in 1854, historic trees, a Japanese garden, the Budd
Inlet shoreline and a marina, a three-acre rhododendron garden,
and a bakery that’s a community meeting place. The Eastside
walk consists of two loops, each one a satisfying outing in itself.
They are just a few blocks from each other and could be combined
by ambitious walkers.
Settlement on the Eastside began in the 1850s. In that decade,
a bridge was built over the tide flats that separated the Eastside
from downtown. These flats, known as the Swantown slough, went
as far south as where I-5 and Plum Street intersect today, and
they remained unfilled until 1910. The Eastside was more rural
than other parts of the city for a long time, though in the 1880s
the Washington Standard reported, "the principal employment now
of Eastsiders is staking off corner lots." Real estate mania is
hardly a new phenomenon.
This part of the city consisted primarily of simple homes with
a few grand ones sprinkled here and there. So although there are
a number of old houses, often they weren’t considered noteworthy
enough for much of their history to be recorded. Many of these
houses are occupied by the descendants of the people who built
them. The teenagers of one family I know are the fifth generation
in the same house. Olympia’s sense of community is greatly
enhanced by rooted folk such as these.
Walk 5A: Eastside Neighborhood (about 2 miles)
This walk begins and ends at a park with some of the best views
in the city, so you might want to bring along a picnic or snack
for the end of the walk. From downtown, take 4th Avenue, Legion
Way, or 8th Avenue, heading east. You’ll cross busy Plum
Street, where the tides still rise and fall in regular rhythms
— but now they are tides of traffic. Continue past Eastside
Street and Boundary (so named for being the boundary between two
large land holdings) to Central, and turn right there. Go to 10th
Avenue, turn left, and park in the little lot by Madison Scenic
Park. (1)
Begin your walk by going up through the park. On the third Sunday
evening in July, Olympia has its annual fireworks. There’s
always a crowd watching them here. Walk past a stage to a rambling
walkway that climbs uphill among blackberry bushes that sometimes
impinge on the path. On the last, straighter stretch of the walkway,
look out to the NW and you may see the distant Olympic Mountains.
A bit of Puget Sound usually shows (the amount varying with the
tides), and the panorama includes the State Capitol and the Black
Hills behind it.
You come out of the park at the corner of Mc-Cormick and 9th.
Go north (the only way you can) on McCormick, and on your right
you’ll see a tall gray water tower (2), visible from many
points in the city. There has been water stored on this hilltop
for close to a century, as a reservoir was built in the 1890s.
If you walk on the concrete pavement near the water tower, you're
walking on the old reservoir; to get there from McCormick, take
the wide path by the octagonal structure. The views are even better
than from Madison Park, but it’s not really a charming spot
and it’s little used now. From the southern end of this area,
you can see Mt. Rainier framed in trees and power lines, when
weather permits.
Continue on McCormick to Legion Way, and turn left. Legion between
Central and Plum is known for the row of large, shady trees on
either side of the street. Most of them are oaks, but there are
some sweetgums planted right after World War II by the American
legion
There’s a grand Oregon White Oak (3) just off Legion Way,
in the Methodist Church parking lot. You can see it from Legion
after you cross Boundary, and you may want to take a closer look.
It was planted by a settler some time after 1872, and recently
became Olympia’s first Landmark Tree.
At Legion and Eastside, there are two buildings of note, both
Joseph Wohleb creations. On the NW corner stands the 1938 Armory
(4), built in Art Moderne style from a design that Wohleb collaborated
on. It was a very busy place during World War II, and is still
in use today. The attractive exterior paint accentuates the building’s
interesting facade.
On the SE corner is the old Washington School (5), built in 1924
in Mission style. The original Washington School built in the
1890s was located where the Armory is now, so for some time people
must have called this building the new Washington School! Now
there is a third Washington School, in another neighborhood.
There are two interesting trees standing as sentinels over the
school: one is a large copper beech and the other is a horse chestnut
or buckeye.
Walk back up Legion to Boundary, and turn right. I’ve sometime
seen ducks on the ball fields on this corner. At the SE corner
of 7th and Boundary is the Pioneer-style Tracey house (6). At
the next corner, 8th and Boundary, the Patnude house (7) sits
on the SW corner. It was built in 1893, during a real estate boom,
but when a financial panic followed, the Oregon Mortgage Company
foreclosed on the house, and the Patnudes lost it. This is a theme
that will recur. There are still Patnudes in the neighborhood.
Walk downhill (west) on 8th. In 1994, the Eastside Neighborhood
Association — with help from the City of Olympia — planted
a variety of attractive small trees on both sides of 8th between
Boundary and Eastside Streets. The last tree you’ll pass
before you cross Eastside is a Weeping Cherry, chosen to be a
companion to the extraordinary Weeping Cherry (8) on the SW corner
of 8th and Eastside.
A plaque under that tree says, "Dedicated to the loving memory
of Max John Leitgeb [1918-1991], who lived on this corner and
nurtured this tree for 35 years with the same gentle care and
respect he gave his family, ensuring strong roots — yet the
freedom to branch out and grow." When Leitgeb sold the place,
it was with the agreement that the tree would be protected. It
has since become an official Olympia Landmark Tree. It is beautiful
year-round and to my eyes at its loveliest when it blooms in the
spring.
Continue straight past the tree along 8th Avenue, and you will
come to a complex of city buildings. Cross the parking lot to
Olympia's doughnut-shaped City Hall (9). Go half way around the
circle in either direction, cross another parking lot, and you’ll
come to the side entrance of Yashiro Park (10), open during daylight
hours.
This Japanese garden is a wonderful oasis of tranquillity, visual
if not auditory — you do hear traffic and the freeway very
clearly here. Bamboo, rocks, blossoms, a pagoda, a waterfall,
and fish invite contemplation. Olympia and Yashiro, Japan, have
an active sister city relationship. One spring Saturday, I came
upon a group of volunteers busily caring for the park. They were
mainly from the sister city association.
Leave the park via its front gate, which opens onto Plum Street.
Turn left and walk to the corner. You’re at one of the busiest
intersections in the city, as vehicles come and go to I-5 here.
I like to remember the tides as I hurry past here. You don’t
need to cross the street; just turn left and walk along Union.
After you pass the gas station, on your left behind other buildings
is a remnant of a wetland, with willows, cottonwoods, and other
trees.
Union ends at Eastside Street, so go left a short block on Eastside,
then turn right and walk up 10th. The next corner you come to
is Boundary, and half a block south (right) on it is the Lybarger
house (11), completed in 1887 in the Italianate style. In 1900,
with real estate values plummeting due to the financial crisis
and in a financial crisis of their own, the Lybargers turned the
house over to the mortgage holder with $1200 remaining due on
it.
I have a special interest in the Lybarger house: my maiden name
is Linebarger, and the name was spelled a variety of ways. My
Linebarger ancestors and those of the Lybargers came to the New
World from the same part of Germany about three years apart. Mark
and Bobbie Foutch, the present owners of the house, have a Lybarger
family history, and it was sprinkled with first names that are
common in my family. It was eerie to find a Rosanna!
Go back to 10th and continue walking west on it. The 1884 Yaeger
house (12) at 1409 10th was the first house listed with Olympia’s
Heritage Register when it was organized in 1986. The house is
a Queen Anne style, with Eastlake decorative elements.
When you reach the corner of 10th and Central, you can see your
starting point, but there’s one more wonderful house to see,
the White house (13), built in 1893 by lumberman
William White. Turn right on Central and go a block to 11th, where
the White house is on the SW corner. The Whites only lived in
their house for two years before losing it to the Oregon Mortgage
Company. The 1890s were hard on homeowners.
 Return to Madison Scenic
Park, and if you haven't gotten enough exercise yet, you can go
around on the bark paths of this park.
Walk 5B: Bigelow Neighborhood and East Bay Marina ( 2.5 miles)
The Bigelow neighborhood is named for the oldest home in Olympia,
the 1854 Bigelow house. The many interesting houses in the neighborhood,
the mature trees, and some of the shrubs have all grown old together.
There’s a pleasing sense of interconnection.
From downtown, take 4th Avenue to Plum Street, just on the edge
of downtown. Turn left on Plum (which becomes East Bay Drive as
it crosses State), go two blocks, turn right onto Olympia Ave,
and park somewhere along Olympia.
This walk involves two sections. The neighborhood loop is about
one mile, and the walk out to the marina and back is about 1.5
miles. You might also want to walk the neighborhood, then drive
out to the marina to explore it. As with several other neighborhoods,
there is a free Olympia Heritage Commission brochure available,
which describes the Bigelow neighborhood in more detail.
Walk east, uphill, along Olympia Avenue. The Rudkin house (14),
constructed in 1905, is a lovely big house on the SE corner of
Olympia and Quince, at 902 E Olympia Avenue. The house is large,
with fancy columns on the front porch, and painted in subtle blues
and greens.
After that, the most notable houses are on your left. The Sparks
house (15), a 1904 Victorian cottage at 1018 Olympia Avenue, is
a very sweet place. A few doors up, the Byrd house (16) is a Queen
Anne style house completed around 1891. It has lions guarding
the front walk. Notice too the 1892 Dunbar house (17) at 1118
and the 1900 Clark house (18) at 1126.
On the NE corner of Olympia and Puget Street, there’s a
mysterious old place, the Funk house (19), built around 1906.
Turn left on Puget and walk to Bigelow Avenue. At the SE corner
of Puget and Bigelow is a simple church (20) which was designed
by Joseph Wohleb around 1939. By this time he was doing generally
less ornate work.
If you want to sit in a park for a spell or to use a public restroom,
turn right on Puget and walk past the church and up another block
to a pleasant small park, Bigelow Park (21). It includes an imaginative
playground for kids, a few picnic tables, and a nice blend of
sun and shade, if the sun happens to be out.
Whether or not you went up to the park, from Puget now go downhill
on Bigelow, a rather steep block. Turn left where it ends at Quince
Street, and go left; then make your first right turn, onto Glass
street, and you will soon come to an old house on the right, set
back from the street, on a two-acre lot. This is the Bigelow house
(22). The first of the family to live there were Daniel Richardson
Bigelow and his wife Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow. He was a Harvard-educated
lawyer who was active in the creation of Washington territory
apart from Oregon and in the movement to give women the vote.
She was one of the first school teachers in the region.
Their house, Carpenter Gothic in style, was built in 1854, and
it is one of the oldest frame buildings still standing anywhere
in Washington. It has remained in the family, with many papers,
books, and other items having remained intact. Daniel S. Bigelow,
the grandson of Daniel R., and his wife Mary Ann Bigelow, have
lived in the house for over sixty years, doing a great deal of
public education about it. Now the house is being renovated, and
it will become a living history site, with people dressed in the
clothing of the period to explain the era to visitors. The Bigelows
have a life estate and will continue to live in the house.
Continue down the hill to East Bay Drive, cross it, and turn
left. You’ll soon come to a bench where you can sit and view
the rugged Olympic Mountains, if they happen to be visible. Continuing
along, you can see pilings that were left in the water when the
inlet was dredged, because they provide nesting sites for seabirds.
Soon you will be back at the corner of Olympia Avenue, right near
where you began.
To walk out to the East Bay Marina (23), turn right onto Marine
Drive, which is what Olympia Avenue becomes on that side of the
street, and go along the path. From here you can walk out to the
marina. Once you round the curve, on your left will be LOTT, the
sewage treatment plant. Almost all of the land on this peninsula
is fill that has been added during this century.
Most times of year, you can see Great Blue Herons. Other birds
to watch for include Goldeneyes, Horned Grebes, and Cormorants.
Many other species have been observed here from time to time.
There are always seagulls. At low tides, you can also see a lot
of mud. The city has plans to restore part of this shoreline,
to make it a healthier ecosystem over time.
At the marina, locked gates bar access to most of the moored
boats, but at the northern end there are two floats that you can
walk out on. The furthest one has my favorite view of the Olympic
Mountains. Even when they are obscured by clouds, this is a special
place. You can get right down at water level, watch the birds,
and maybe see some sailboats come gliding in. You almost feel
like you’re on a boat. There are harbor seals in the area,
all year.
The float just to the south of this one often has a varied array
of vessels tied up at it, from hard-working fishing boats to the
most elegant of yachts. As you walk back onto land, you’ll
see a Port of Olympia sign welcom-ing you to the United States.
TWO SPECIAL PLACES
San Francisco Street Bakery (24)
This bakery is a favorite gathering spot for at least two good
reasons: community and food. Its location in the neighborhood
gives the area a focal point, and the food is excellent. Gene
Otto, who owns the bakery with his wife, is a seventh-generation
baker whose family baked in Germany and the United States. His
great-grandfather came to the United States from Saxony, where
the family had been baking since the 1500s. There’s a plaque
with the details on the wall to the left of the door, inside the
bakery.
If you wanted to extend the Bigelow neighborhood walk north to
the bakery, you could walk north from Olympia Street on Puget
to San Francisco Street, turn right there and soon the bakery
would be on the left. When you leave, walk back on San Francisco
and take it down a steep hill to East Bay Drive. Walk along it
back to your starting point, going up Glass to see the Bigelow
house if you missed it on the way to the bakery. Going this way
would create a loop of about 1.8 miles.
Zabel’s Rhodies and Azaleas (25) (Open in May)
Over three acres of lovingly cared-for rhododendrons and azaleas
with meandering paths make up Arthur and Peggy Zabel’s back
yard. Rhody lovers for some twenty-five years, for much of that
time they have been opening their yard to the public during the
month of May. Thousands of people come each year.
The ground rules are laid out near the entrance: no dogs, no
runners, please stay on paths, unattended children will be sold
as slaves. Within the forest itself, there are name cards for
many of the rhododendrons, azaleas, trees, and ground covers.
The occasional wood-burned signs invite contemplation. It’s
open in May from 10 AM to 8 PM daily. There is no charge, nor
do they sell plants. From the bakery, it’s .7 mile to 2432
North Bethel. Watch for RHODY TOUR sign on right.
ACCESS: These walks are accessible by various busses from the
downtown terminal. Restrooms can be hard to find, but you do go
past several public buildings in the first loop. There are restrooms
at the East Bay Marina; the farthest north ones are open to the
public. Both neighborhood walks have steep parts that might be
impossible with wheelchairs.
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