Broadview in Seattle in King County, Washington — The American West (Northwest)
Carkeek Park
Photographed by Marsha A. Matson, July 25, 2015
1. Carkeek Park Marker
Carkeek Park is an urban oasis. The salt water beach, the salmon bearing stream, wetlands, forest, picnic tables, play areas and miles of trails welcome visitors with new discoveries year round.
The land once occupied by early Salish peoples was known as K'aalab or "leave it alone" by the Shilshole band of the Duwamish. By the 1920s, the forests of the park had been cut and the remaining land was left as meadows or used for dairy farming. Erosion and sewage polluted the creek, sickened homesteaders downstream and exterminated the Piper's Creek salmon population.
The Piper family sold their property to Morgan J. Carkeek who donated it to the city as part of a land exchange. In 1929, this section of the Piper's Creek watershed was dedicated as Carkeek Park.
Erected by Seattle Parks and Recreation.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Environment • Horticulture & Forestry • Indigenous Peoples and Communities. A significant historical year for this entry is 1929.
Location. 47° 42.697′ N, 122° 22.33′ W. Marker is in Seattle, Washington, in King County. It is in Broadview. It is on Northwest 114th Street. Enter the park at the Eddie McAbee Entrance on NW 100th Place, near 6th Ave NW. Touch for map
this page online
Regionally, this marker is in Washington’s Puget Sound Region. It is also on the American Pacific Coast, in the Pacific Northwest, and in the Lewis & Clark Corridor. Globally, it is in North America, in the Cascade Range, in the Inside Passage, on the Ring of Fire, in the Pacific Rim, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Civil War Memorial (approx. 1.2 miles away); Margaret Louise Clayton Kelly (approx. 1.3 miles away); Emil Fredreksen Memorial (approx. 1.6 miles away); The Old Carnegie Library (approx. 3 miles away); America's Oldest Continually Operating Movie Theatre (approx. 3 miles away); Mural at Bergen Place (approx. 3.1 miles away); Halverson's Dry Goods (approx. 3.1 miles away); Enquist Block (approx. 3.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Seattle.
Regarding Carkeek Park. Carkeek Park is a 216 acre park in northwest Seattle, adjacent to the Broadview neighborhood, offering hiking trails, play and picnic areas, and a pedestrian bridge that leads over the BNSF Railway tracks to a sand beach on Puget Sound. Pipers Orchard, with fruit and nut trees, and Pipers Creek, an urban stream that empties into the Sound, have both been restored here after years of hard work by neighbors, volunteers and city workers. (Excerpted from www.seattle.gov/tour/carkeek.htm)
Also see . . . Carkeep Park. Washington Trails Association website (Submitted on July 31, 2015, by Marsha A. Matson of Palmetto Bay, Florida.)
Photographed by Marsha A. Matson, July 25, 2015
2. Carkeek Park trail
Photographed by Marsha A. Matson, July 25, 2015
3. Carkeek Park Piper's Orchard Marker
Photographed by Marsha A. Matson, July 25, 2015
4. Piper's Orchard Marker
Photographed by Marsha A. Matson, July 25, 2015
5. Piper's Orchard
Piper's Orchard is in Carkeek Park.
Photographed by Marsha A. Matson, July 25, 2015
6. Minna and Andrew Piper
Andrew W. Piper was a professional baker, a city council member, a Seattle mayoral candidate, and a newspaper cartoonist. After the Seattle Great Fire of 1889 destroyed his bakery, A.W. moved with his wife Minna and his extended family to cabins abandoned by loggers on this site. The Pipers planted this orchard along with extensive vegetable and flower gardens. The heirs of A.W. sold the land to the Carkeek family, who donated it to the city in 1927.
Photographed by Marsha A. Matson, July 25, 2015
7. Orchard tree
The land remained fallow until early 1983, when a group of orchard enthusiasts walking along Piper's Creek trail discovered among the overgrowth, apple trees planted in an orderly fashion. Volunteers cleared the area of alders, maples, and blackberry bushes, pruned the surviving 32 original trees and planted additional fruit and nut varieties popular in the early 1900s.
Photographed by Marsha A. Matson, July 25, 2015
8. View of orchard
Most of the trees are varieties of apples not available now, including Wealthy, King of Tompkins County, Dutch Mignone, Red Astrican, Rhode Island Greening, Beitigheimer, and Esopus Spitzenberg. Several varieties of pear, quince, filbert, hickory, and walnut trees can also be found.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 15, 2025. It was originally submitted on July 31, 2015, by Marsha A. Matson of Palmetto Bay, Florida. This page has been viewed 1,468 times since then and 45 times this year. Last updated on April 5, 2017, by Rob Ketcherside of Seattle, Washington. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. submitted on July 31, 2015, by Marsha A. Matson of Palmetto Bay, Florida. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
Editor’s want-list for this marker. Submission of Carkeek Park Piper's Orchard for its own profile, including geocoordinates and wide shot. • Can you help?
