This little town was a booming metropolis in 1892 when the Great Northern Railway Company began building the first route across Stevens Pass. The railroad was completed in 1983, and was the valley's first connection to the west coast and everything east. Timber and mining were also major industries, as gold had been discovered in 1860. However, 1925, the GNRC relocated it's headquarters to Wenatchee and moved it's tracks away from Tumwater Canyon. The sawmill closed a year later. For the next 30 years, the town of Leavenworth slowly declined. The main draw during this time was the skiing in the winter. But by the 50's, it was clear that outdoor recreation was not enough to sustain the town - businesses were failing, Leavenworth was dubbed a welfare town, and jobs were hard to come by.
A group of residents banded together, determined to find a way to end the 30 year depression and keep Leavenworth alive. They looked to the Alpine mountains for inspiration. The Alpine theme was introduced in 1960, and all new construction took on a Swiss Alpine style. By 1968, 14 buildings had been remodeled. The Christmas celebrations that the town had always enjoyed grew in popularity and attracted visitors from all over.
Today, Leavenworth boasts 16 festivals, summer theater, art shows and outdoor recreation events year round, that keep visitors coming back year after year.
The town is proud of the fact that they were able to accomplish the reclaiming of their town on their own, with concensus, and with no government assistance of any kind.
We would definitely recommend a visit to this delightful area!
Here's one of the main streets - there are 3 - with an authentic beer garden on the right that serves German beer and all kinds of brats and sausages. Needless to say, we enjoyed a cold beer there!
This is inside the beer garden. Leavenworth is in the mountains, and has a short but intensive growing season - there were flowers EVERYWHERE!
Another shot inside the beer garden
Danish bakery - note the pretzels decorating the outside of the shop
Here's a close-up.
Here's the town's May Pole, where they celebrate May Day each year.
This picture shows the Alpine-like mountains
Another shot of this adorable little town. Lee said that it looks just like some little villages he's seen in Switzerland, so it's pretty authentic.
This is a lighted walkway into lots of little shops.
More architecture.
More mountain scenery
And more
We ate dinner Wednesday night at a German restaurant (of course!) called Andreas Keller, which had an authentic German menu, as well as pretty authentic decor, as you can see from our "barrel" booth. I had schnitzel and Lee had sauerkraut, German potato salad, and sausage. We were serenaded with accordian music, as well. It was a hoot, dinner was great, and we really enjoyed it!
We stayed at the Enzian Inn, which is located where the GNRC roundhouse had once stood. It was a delightful hotel, with beautifully decorated rooms, music in the evenings, and a full breakfast. A big draw for me was that the owner played the Alpenhorn every morning, serenading his guests. In this shot, he's standing on the balcony ledge on the 4th floor, playing a song - amazing!
Then he brought the Alpenhorn in, and played a song in there. You can see that the horn has little feet at it's base. As he played, he slowly edged toward the kids all gathered there. They weren't too sure about that!
We had a fabulous time in Leavenworth, and they also have wonderful gelatto! The people are so friendly and the town is so engaging, that you could easily spend a week there. They have developed into quite a grape growing region as well, with lots and lots of botique wineries. We didn't even experience any of the parks and hiking trails and other outside activities that they are famous for. The Wenatchee river runs right along this little town - next time!!
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