Step Back in Time: Stroll an Historic Garden. See an Historic Ship

Between 10am and 4pm on June 6-7, come see the Dunn Gardens, then head to the Lake Union Dock and see the SS Virginia V tied up there. Step back in time, slow your pace and enjoy two distinctive examples of Seattle history.

The Dunn Gardens were designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1915, as a “Country Place” era summer retreat for the Arthur Dunn family. They comprise 7.5 acres of naturalistic groupings of trees set amidst broad lawns and flowering borders of shrubs and groundcovers with an extensive collection of both native and rare plants. The gardens’ nationally renowned curators Charles Price and Glenn Withey work with the board conservation committee to guide the care and maintenance of the gardens and retain their historic components, yet keep them a vibrant changing living place.

The steamer Virginia V is a national historic landmark built in 1922, and it the last operational wooden hull, steam-powered vessel of the famed Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, an incredible armada of privately owned ships that numbered in the hundreds in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Once a common way to travel for anyone near a body of water, these small steamers were a major part of American history. The Virginia V was registered as a national Historic Landmark Vessel in 1992 and continues as a living, working museum.

The AYPE Centennial is a perfect opportunity to highlight and showcase the gardens and the ship. The Olmsted Brothers landscape firm had a profound effect on Seattle’s growth and overall look that remains today, but is often obscured by the urban hubbub. The mosquito fleet is long gone and a chance to step aboard the steamer and feel history followed by the stroll through the gardens, will evoke and inspire memories of the AYPE age with the themes of transportation, local production, trade and relationships there to be seen firsthand.

We want people to feel this time period, to experience a stepping back in time, a slowing of pace, a chance to savor what earlier generations treasured: workmanship, pride in local skills, the care and maintenance of something that requires specialized knowledge. All things that inherently give great satisfaction and build personal and local pride.

No reservations needed, just come to the Gardens between 10am-4pm on June 6 or 7.