UFOs, FBI agents, and Chainsaws
The legend of Snohomish County parks and trails
By Richard Porter for Seattle NorthCountry
I’m going to say it and I don’t care how it sounds. Public parks are cool in the way that public television, the public library and public transportation are cool. In an era when seemingly everything that can be commodified has been commodified — attention, water, entertainment —parks offer free, and thus inherently human, spaces… a way to be in the world without spending money. Before you visit Snohomish County parks and trails, you may be interested in the stories behind some of our most beloved areas.
From FBI agents to WWII memorials, fire lookouts to flying saucers – here’s the storied scoop on how our favorite parks came to be and what makes them so special.
WILLIS TUCKER PARK, A TRIBUTE TO A LOCAL HERO
Willis Tucker Community Park can be hard to find, especially if you’ve never been before. Located in the Clearview area off of Cathcart Road, this secluded location features walking trails, an off-leash dog park, baseball fields and a small patch of woods.
“Willis Tucker” sounds like the name of a plucky, twentieth century go-getter.
If you were penning a book about a bootstrapping social climber, you’d probably pick this name, because it has the novelistic ring of the Great American hero. When it comes to larger-than-life biographies, the real, historical Willis Tucker doesn’t disappoint.
Tucker was born in rural West Virginia in the early 20th century. Young Tucker was a celebrated high school football star and found work as a dynamiter in the mines of Appalachia. During World War II, Tucker served as an FBI agent before settling into a career as a newspaperman in Snohomish. Eventually he rode a wave of popularity to become the very first Executive of Snohomish County. Tucker died of cancer at age 77, but today he is remembered with this much-loved park that bears his name.
Willis Tucker Community Park
6705 Puget Park Dr., Snohomish, WA 98296
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CENTENNIAL TRAIL BARN IS A SOLEMN MEMORIAL
At the northernmost point of the 40-mile Centennial Trail is the Nakashima Family Barn. You can’t miss it towering like a brick red monolith at the trailhead.
This barn belonged to the Nakashima Family, Japanese farmers who cultivated over 100 acres in this valley during the Great Depression and into the 1940s. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government forced the Nakashima family into Japanese detention camps in Idaho and California. The land was stolen from the Asian-American farmers, sold at an undervalued price as the Nakashimas were packing their bags to leave.
Today, there are large black and white photos of the Nakashima family on the side of their barn along with some text describing their story. It’s a moving reminder to learn from the mistakes of the past.
Nakashima Heritage Barn North Trailhead
32325 WA-9 Arlington, WA 98223
CITIZENS PULL TOGETHER TO SAVE HEYBROOK RIDGE FROM LOGGERS
Step off your bicycle in Index and you will hear… nothing. Absolutely nothing, save for maybe the babbling waters of the Skykomish River or the wind in hills covered with evergreen trees.
Index is a relatively remote location, but the quiet can be best attributed to a tree-covered hill blocking the noise coming from Highway 2, one mile to the south of the town.
Early citizens of Index completely logged Heybrook Ridge. After half a century, second-growth trees began to reforest the hill. A logging company was in the process of buying Heybrook Ridge in 2006 when the citizens of Index rallied together. They formed a nonprofit to save 95 acres of forest. Together, the Friends of Heybrook Ridge raised $1.3 million (including an anonymous donation of $500,000) to buy back the land and create a county park. Today, the popular Heybrook Ridge hiking trail takes folks 1,700 feet into the air to a former fire lookout tower that offers a panoramic view of the Cascades.
Heybrook is another key lesson to be learned: people working together can conserve the environment for future generations. Dialog over chainsaws!
Heybrook Ridge Trail
50606 Index-Galena Rd., Index, WA 98256
THE PAINE FIELD UFO IS OUT OF THIS WORLD
Do you believe in little green men? It’s okay if you do. Aliens are enjoying a heyday in pop culture the likes of which we haven’t seen since “X-Files” and alien autopsies ruled the airwaves of the 1990s.
At Paine Field in Everett, there’s a UFO… just chilling. It’s your stereotypical saucer-type of spacecraft. Sadly, it wasn’t actually left by extraterrestrials; rather, it was placed there by the Snohomish County Arts Commission.
The Snohomish County Arts Commission (a somewhat less exciting protagonist than E.T.) does exciting work — taking one percent of revenue from public building taxes in the county and investing the money into public art. The saucer at Paine Field, entitled “Landing Zone,” is the work of local sculptor Peter Reiquam. The craft has nine-foot legs and is 16-feet wide by 12-feet tall.
The coolest feature is a transparent plexiglass circle in the middle of the UFO that creates a shaft of light when the sun strikes the craft. Beam yourself up at this truly out-of-this-world public art installation.
Paine Field Community Park
1928 Beverly Park Rd., Everett, WA 98204
Want to discover more stories from off the beaten path? Visit www.seattlenorthcountry.com or follow @seattlenorthcountry on social media for trip inspiration and guides to the very best of what Snohomish County has to offer.
