Duwamish Gardens

This important piece of land in Tukwila along the Duwamish River represents the history of how the Coast Salish people, pioneering truck farmers, and Italian immigrants all interacted with surrounding landscape.

The park now serves as a reminder of the past and an important restoration habitat for juvenile salmon.

Watch the Seattle Southside Scenes Video on Duwamish Gardens

It's been home to the Coast Salish People for thousands of years.

It's where inhabitants processed fish from the river.

It's where early pioneers cleared trees and grew cabbages, turnips, beets, and potatoes which they shared with Seattle's founders during their first winter in Seattle in 1851.

And it's where Thomas Ray, a native of Iowa, built a farmhouse and established a farmstead and truck farm that shipped produce to locations like the Pike Place Market that came to be known as Duwamish Gardens.

Today, thanks to the cooperation of several agencies and conservation organizations, Duwamish Gardens is a three-acre City of Tukwila public park that provides critical shallow water habitat for juvenile salmon while also preserving an important part of our local history. Interpretive panels explain the site's cultural significance, including its connections with native people, the pioneering Ray family, and the Italian-American truck farming community. You'll find an overlook and gathering circle, a hand-carry boat launch, and a shoreline walk ending with a wind chime sculpture representing the racks used by Coast Salish People to dry salmon and game. You'll also see ducks, geese, sandpipers, osprey, harbor seals, otters, and other wildlife all returning to the restored and more habitable Duwamish River.

It's a refuge, historical tribute, and hope for the future all in one.

Explore the Duwamish Gardens restoration project in Tukwila.

Acknowledgements

Seattle Southside RTA couldn't have developed this program without the support of our community. We would like to thank the following people for their support in the creation of this content:
Mike Perfetti, City of Tukwila
Stephanie Gardner, City of Tukwila
Tracy Gallaway, City of Tukwila
Laura Phillips, Burke Museum