Carl English Jr Botanical Gardens

Ballard & Discovery Park


On the northern bank of Hiram M Chittenden Locks is this charming arboretum and specimen garden. Trails wind through gardens filled with flowers and mature trees, each labeled. Flanking the gardens is a visitor center containing a small museum documenting the history of the locks.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Ballard & Discovery Park attractions

2. Hiram M Chittenden Locks

0.05 MILES

Seattle shimmers like an impressionist painting on sunny days at the Hiram M Chittenden Locks. Here, the fresh waters of Lake Washington and Lake Union…

3. Nordic Museum

0.27 MILES

Reason alone to come to Ballard – if the culinary scene and waterside parks weren’t enough – is this delightful surprise of a museum dedicated to Nordic…

4. Portland Building

0.58 MILES

A great example of the decorative brickwork that graces many of the buildings along Ballard Ave, the Portland Building has housed all kinds of businesses…

5. Ballard Building

0.59 MILES

Ballard’s only major terracotta structure was built in the 1920s by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. It once held a community hospital and now houses shops,…

6. Commemorative Bell Tower

0.59 MILES

On the corner of Ballard Avenue NW and 22nd Ave is the original location of Ballard City Hall, sometimes called ‘Hose Hall,' which also contained the jail…

7. Bergen Place Park

0.61 MILES

In case you forget where you are or the origin of the settlers to whom Ballard owes its existence, a quintet of flags fly over diminutive Bergen Place…

8. GS Sanborn Building

0.63 MILES

The GS Sanborn Building is Ballard’s only example of Romanesque architecture, a style that was popular on the East Coast in the 1880s. It has a sandstone…