Denney Park Seattle Wa

O.O. Denny Park -- the Enchanted Forest

Editor's Note: Members of the Kirkland Park Board have launched an effort to publicize each of the city's parks in an effort to encourage residents to volunteer in their protection and upkeep. The first installment in this series was Barbara Ramey's reflections on Edith Moulton Park . See also earlier Kirkland Patch stories on O.O. Denny Park here and here .

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By TED MARX 

Denny Creek runs down a green ravine from the top of Finn Hill, spilling out between broad lawns and beaches into Lake Washington at O.O. Denny Park. For wildlife enthusiasts, there are eagles, owls, woodpeckers, squirrels, and even coyotes.

Along the trails running along both sides of the creek and up the hillside, you’ll see madrona, maple and towering Douglas firs -- including “Sylvia,” a 600-year-old giant that has a circumference of nearly 27 feet and was once the largest Douglas fir in King County (255 feet tall before its top snapped in 1993. I walk this park regularly with my dog -- it is so serene you can walk for hours and not see it all. 

The park was originally the country estate of Orion Orvil Denny , an influential resident of Seattle in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. The Dennys named their estate “Klahanie,” which was a saying from the Chinook jargon meaning “out of doors.”

Volunteers from Finn Hill have worked hard over the years to keep the Klahanie spirit alive in this great enchanted forest. In 1916, Mr. Denny’s widow willed the property to the city of Seattle, to be used as a public park, which was officially opened in 1922. 

In 1968, Seattle turned over the maintenance and operation of the park to King County.

Finn Hill residents formed the Denny Creek Neighborhood Alliance (DCNA) in the mid-90’s to support upkeep of the park as well as to protect and restore other natural resources of the neighborhood, to include Big Finn Hill Park and the Juanita Woodlands, (a 40-acre parcel of forest land close to Denny Park, which is overseen by King County).

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