OOTS Extra: Snoqualmie

Serendipity brought us to this place. Having persuaded NAH to come with me to the Seattle Fling, he then found out one of his friends from Uni days lives in nearby Snoqualmie. I'd also earmarked it as a potential place of interest because it's home to an historic railroad :)

Both factors led us to spend quite a bit of time in the area. Having spent the night at D's lovely home overlooking the mountains, we also spent the last day of our holiday there. Wandering around the centre of this relatively small town, I quickly realised it has much to teach us about creating a sense of place in our public surroundings. In the above photo you can see the chosen paving looks like a silvered boardwalk and a generous decorative iron covering gives the street trees room to breathe.

Snoqualmie is proud of its railroad heritage and this is reflected in the pedestrian crossings on the side streets.

Even the drain covers are decorative and carry an important reminder they don't connect with a sewage treatment plant, but directly with a nearby stream.

The street layout celebrates the local river and famous waterfall which attracts visitors from miles around. Sculptures and some of the seating also reference the mountains nearby and their geology. It all makes for a most pleasant environment, which encouraged us to stay much longer than we'd planned.

Snoqualmie is a lumber town and was also a location for the cult 1990s TV programme Twin Peaks. I celebrated both of these aspects over at Sign of the Times :)

How does your town create its sense of place?

Comments

  1. Mark and Gaz24 November 2011 at 13:34

    I stumbled across your blog and have enjoyed reading this. I do like the pavement "art".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous24 November 2011 at 18:35

    Twin peaks-that takes me back. Had to go and watch the (much longer than I remember) opening credits on U-tube. Possibly best left as a fab memory! Hope you had a great Fling in Seattle. Naomi

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elizabeth Musgrave24 November 2011 at 22:13

    What a totally fabulous name! I might need to live there just to have the address.

    ReplyDelete
  4. VP25 November 2011 at 08:23

    Mark and Gaz - welcome! Good to see you and I'm glad you enjoyed my post :)

    Naomi - we had a fab time thanks. We had cherry pie at the Double R Diner too!

    Elizabeth - it's an Indian name :)

    ReplyDelete

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