Seahurst Park

The jewel of Burien's park system, Seahurst Park offers a saltwater beach on Puget Sound, views to the Olympic Mountains, reservable picnic shelters and tables, a playground area, and several trails. The park contains many natural features such as forests, streams, wetlands, and shoreline. Volunteer naturalists visit regularly to answer questions about marine plants and animals. It is a favorite for area photographers and families.

The parking lot has 184 parking stalls and an additional 5 accessible parking stalls in the lower parking lot.

Park History

Seahurst Park was first used by Native Americans for fishing and clam-gathering. White settlers used the Homestead Act of 1862 to obtain land in Burien. The Act was intended to attract settlers to the west by providing them with land for homes and farms. However, speculators also used the Act to claim land for timber harvesting.

Seahurst Park, also known as Ed Munro Park after the state legislator who helped coordinate funding and resources for the park, was established in 1975. In addition to acquiring Seahurst Park, Ed Munro helped improve other South End parks and playfields. Fred Metzler, son of White Center pioneers Sam and Lucretia Metzler, Highline Times publisher Jerry Robinson, Dottie Harper, Norm Ackley, and others also played key roles in obtaining Seahurst Park.

In recent years, local citizens, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the city of Burien have helped revive the park's delicate forest cycle. The NRCS provided the City with financial and technical aid through the Natural Resources Stewardship Network for the Seahurst Park Reforestation Project, a multi-year effort to plant seedlings of native trees to return natural succession to the forest. Logging and other activities altered the natural life cycle of the trees in the park. Alder and big leaf maple dominate, rather than fir, hemlock, and cedar. To help nature reach the normal succession of these species, Burien PaRCS developed the Seahurst Park Reforestation Project. Local groups and Adopt-A-Park volunteers also clear away brush and plant native trees.

Today, Seahurst Ed Munro Park is a beautifully restored gem with lots of great opportunities to take in the bounty of natural Pacific Northwest beauty.