Roanoke Park

Roanoke Park

Location: Central Seattle
Address: 950 E. Roanoke St.
Acreage: 2.2

A park can say a lot about the neighborhood that surrounds it.

Roanoke Park is clean, beautifully maintained and features old, elegant trees that line its four sides. The homes around this park are gorgeous, statuesque structures that must date back a century. They are clearly well loved by their owners.

And, it’s clear that this park is well loved by its neighborhood. The playground has new equipment that’s ADA compliant. There’s a half basketball court and some nicely kept benches devoid of graffiti.

The heart of the park is a gigantic elm tree that was planted in 1910 according to a plaque nearby that recognizes it as a “heritage tree.” There are so many wonderful old trees in this park that this elm, surprisingly, doesn’t even stand out.

As I exited the park along one of the many smooth dirt paths that fan out from the center, I noticed a sign recruiting residents to participate in a work party at Roanoke Park this weekend.

I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot of thumb twiddling at this work party.

#96 (Visited 1/19/10)