O.O. Denny Park facts for kids
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O.O. Denny Park is a 47-acre (19 ha) city park in Kirkland, Washington. It has approximately 0.25 miles (400 m) of Lake Washington shoreline, and some park amenities such as BBQ grills and a covered structure at the shore, with mostly unimproved forest above the lake, surrounding Denny Creek.
History
Before the park was turned over to Kirkland in 2013, shortly after annexation of the surrounding Finn Hill area in 2011, it was part of Finn Hill Park and Recreation District. Before that, it was a Seattle city park that opened to the public in 1922, and before that, it was "Klahanie", the country property of Orion Denny, son of Mary Ann and Arthur A. Denny, two of Seattle's original founders (see Denny Party).
Natural history
The park features an unusual quantity of trees over 150 feet tall, including grand firs, black cottonwoods, western hemlock, and cedars. Many Douglas firs stand over 200 feet tall, and are among the tallest trees in the Seattle area. One of the Douglas firs is "Sylvia", a 600-year-old specimen over 26 feet (7.9 m) in circumference, once the largest fir tree in King County; it was 255 feet (78 m) tall until the 1993 Inauguration Day windstorm topped it.
The park is one of four designated, protected bald eagle nesting areas in Kirkland, all on the Lake Washington shoreline.
