As reported last night, the Queen Anne Stairway walk took place this afternoon, led by the authors of the upcoming “Seattle Stairway Walks” with added historical insights from members of the Queen Anne Historical Society. Despite the rain, about two dozen people showed up for the walk, and promptly at 1pm, the weather cooperated and the rain let up for the 2 hour tour. It was a fast-paced up-and-down tour, but what a way to spend a Saturday!
The crowd was a mix of Queen Anne residents and visitors from other neighborhoods. I talked with several out-of-neighborhood visitors, and their comments further cemented why Queen Anne is my neighborhood of choice – “beautiful”, “serene”, “spectacular views”, and “amazing houses” were just a few of the comments.
If you didn’t get the opportunity to take the tour, you can do so yourself by following along with the mapped walks in the upcoming “Seattle Stairway Walks: An Up-and-Down Guide to City Neighborhoods” – it will be published in December, and if you pre-order, you can save 25% with the code “SEASt12”. For a preview of the book, take a look at the pictures on the Seattle Stairway Walks website.
And, personally, I highly recommend “Map of the (Oft) Pedestrian Public Stairs of Queen Anne”, which was created by Thomas Horton, a local architect. It is a great guide to all of our public stairs, and the hand-drawn map and annotations are unique. The map is available online from the Queen Anne Historical Society, and also at Queen Anne Books (until they close on October 31).