I had no idea of this, but underneath the pavements of Seattle is a whole network of passages and tunnels which are the disused streets of the city from the 1800’s. After a disastrous fire destroyed 31 Seattle city blocks in 1889, the decision was taken to rebuild the city one to two stories higher, thus avoiding the flooding that came from having built the city on tidal floodplains (and some unpleasant sewerage issues caused by the same thing). It’s possible to take a fascinating walking tour through these streets, around three of the old blocks. We were snowed in for the few days we were in Seattle, so it was quite a blessing to find Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour and explore a surprising aspect of the city.
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How absolutely fascinating Amanda. To have all that, just below everyones feet…amazing.
What an interesting peek underground! I’ve never been to Seattle but it sounds like there’s a lot to see and do.
I have been to Seattle and did not know these streets existed. I love the Pike market !!
You probably would never have found that Seattle Secret if you hadn’t have been snowed in. Serendipity. I’ve done a couple of different underground tours in different cities so this is one I can add to the list for when I visit. Great photo too.
I’ve done that tour Amanda – a bit creepy, but very interesting. Pity about the snow. Seattle is such an interesting place – the markets, the coffee, the flight museum!
I read a book about this and it sounded fascinating. What a great tour
It’s amazing to me that so long ago people had the ability and the technology to create underground worlds such as this xx