Bergen Place, Seattle, Guide du visiteur et quoi faire à proximité

Bergen Place is a small triangular park in the heart of Ballard, Seattle, named for Bergen, Norway, one of the city's sister cities. It is best known for a mural that tells the story of the neighbourhood's Scandinavian settlers, its sawmills and its fishing families. It takes only a few minutes to see, and it explains a lot about the streets around it.

The story behind it

Ballard was once its own city, and it has not forgotten that. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, thousands of Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Finns and Icelanders came here to cut timber, run mills and fish the cold waters of the North Pacific. The town earned the nickname Shingletown, U.S.A. for its shingle mills, and Scandinavian churches, lodges and newspapers filled its streets. Ballard was an independent city until it joined Seattle in 1907.

The mural at Bergen Place was painted to tell that story in a single picture: the mills, the fishing families who set out from the nearby docks, and the ties to the Nordic countries. Part of what it shows no longer exists. The mills are gone, and the old City Hall that served independent Ballard was demolished. In that sense the mural keeps alive a version of the town that survives mostly in paint and in memory.

What to look for

• The mural itself, which gathers the mills, the fishing life and the Nordic connections of old Ballard into one scene.
• The park's compact triangular shape, a small patch of public space wedged between busy streets in the middle of the neighbourhood.
• The contrast between the mural's lost mills and the newer apartment buildings that now rise around the old brick storefronts.
• Scandinavian flags, which fill the neighbourhood around the Syttende Mai celebrations each May.

Tips for your visit

• Plan on 10 to 15 minutes at the park, longer if you combine it with a walk through the neighbourhood.
• It is an open-air public space, so there is nothing to enter, and daylight is best for studying the mural.
• Ballard Avenue and its historic brick buildings are close by, which makes Bergen Place a natural starting or finishing point for a stroll.
• Cafes, pubs and shops line the nearby streets, so it is easy to turn a short stop into an afternoon. Check current opening hours before you go.

See it on a quest

Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Seattle is a good way to see Bergen Place because you reach it on foot as one stop of a longer route through the area. The app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot. One ticket covers the whole group.

Ghost Hunt in Seattle suits anyone who likes their history with a shadowy edge. You walk to each stop, hear about the place when you get there, and work through a puzzle in what is in front of you. One ticket covers the whole group.

Seattle Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society. turns a walk through the area into a detective game. You move from place to place on foot, the app explains what you are looking at, and a puzzle waits at each stop. One ticket covers the whole group.