Golden Gardens Park - Seattle Parks & Recreation

Hiding in Ballard is Golden Gardens Park, one of the best sandy beaches on Puget Sound. This popular city park is broken into two parts by the railroad, an upper and lower section. The lower section is along the beach, with grass fields along the length. All the great park activities are happening here, including the extraordinary views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. The upper section holds some picnic areas and the off-leash dog area.

The park was named by and developed by Harry W. Treat in 1907 as an attraction at the end of the new electric car lines being built by realtors to induce town folk to take a Sunday outing out of town and through the woods to a picnic or swim at a beach. Along the way they were made aware of the real estate available. The car line ended at Loyal Way & 85th with a steep twisting dusty path down into the park. At that time the northern half of Meadow Point was the site of a shipyard until 1913. To the south the beach curved in along the railroad seaway to Salmon Bay. The State owns the tidelands south of the park, with boat works and yards by the Bay.