Olympia

An All America City

At the southernmost end of Puget Sound, Olympia occupies a place where land and water come together. Today it is Washington's capital, but its location on Budd Inlet was important long before there was a Washington state, or an Olympia.

The area is part of the ancestral homeland of the Coast Salish peoples, particularly the Squaxin Island Tribe. The peninsula that became downtown Olympia was known as Cheetwoot, meaning "the black bear place," and the protected waters and nearby tidal flats provided food, transportation and gathering places for generations.

American settlers arrived in the 1840s. Edmund Sylvester and Levi Smith claimed land along Budd Inlet in 1846, initially calling their settlement Smithfield. After Smith's death, Sylvester took over the property and in 1850 renamed the growing town Olympia, inspired by the Olympic Mountains visible to the north and west.

What made the little settlement important was its location. Olympia sat near the northern end of the overland route connecting the Columbia River with Puget Sound. Travelers arriving from the south could essentially run out of road here and continue their journeys by water. Ships carried lumber and other goods from Olympia, while small steamships eventually connected the town with communities throughout Puget Sound. Olympia became an early transportation and commercial hub even though its harbor presented a challenge: at low tide, Budd Inlet could become an enormous expanse of mudflats. The city responded with long wharves, dredging and eventually significant reshaping of the shoreline.

When Washington Territory was created in 1853, Governor Isaac Stevens selected Olympia as its capital. At the time, it was one of the territory's most established communities and, importantly, could be reached by boat. Other cities later grew larger and repeatedly challenged Olympia for the capital, but Olympia held onto the distinction. When Washington became a state in 1889, Olympia remained its seat of government.

The result is an unusual combination for a state capital. Olympia has the grand Capitol Campus and its imposing Legislative Building, but just downhill is a compact downtown of older commercial buildings, cafés, restaurants, independent shops and gathering places. Keep walking and you quickly reach Percival Landing and Budd Inlet, bringing the city's story back to the water where it began.

For Urban Wine Walkers, Olympia works because these different versions of the city sit remarkably close together. You can start near the Capitol, walk downhill through downtown, find coffee along the way, continue toward Percival Landing and the waterfront, and then circle back through downtown for a flight of Washington wine.

It's a walk that helps explain why Olympia is here in the first place.