All About North Tacoma, WA
- by Jodie Vinson
"It's everyone's front yard," reads the motto of Walk the Waterfront, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and development of Tacoma's seven-mile stretch of shoreline. From South Commencement Bay to Point Defiance Park opportunities for exploration of the area's ecological and historical treasures abound. Walk the Waterfront envisions a path allowing easier access to the recreational and educational potential of Tacoma's watery front yard. The path would potentially connect downtown with the old historic district, reviving Tacoma's past and ensuring a more vibrant future.
Tacoma's present downtown life meets with the past at the Foss Waterway Seaport. Here in one of the oldest structures of the waterfront, the Old Baufour Dock building, the Working Waterfront Maritime History Museum celebrates Tacoma's shoreline history. It was the waterfront that first drew explorers to the area. Captain Vancouver and his crew of the H.M.S Discovery noted the beauty of the tree-lined coast punctuated by a majestic mountain. Settlers began arriving around 1864, and the town grew as it became the Northern Pacific Railway terminus. The industry the railroad brought with it soon took over the waterfront, covering it in shipyards, lumber mills and warehouses. Some of these industrial sites have been since turned into parks as the city continues to reclaim and rebuild the welcome of its front yard.
Community Links:
Old Town Tacoma Events
Old Town Tacaoma Business District
Tacoma Old Town Blues Fest
Classical Tuesdays in Old Town
NorthTacoma.net
