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The ghost roads of Washington state

Hundreds of miles of abandoned roads have stories to tell. #k5evening

SEATTLE — In a South King County forest, a fire hydrant stands sentry over nothing in particular, a sidewalk stretches through trees and vines.

"This is archaeology right here," said local historian Feliks Banel, "And it's just right at our footsteps."

The roads that once tied together a bustling community now bear silent witness to the passage of time. They are "ghost roads," arterials that have long outlived their usefulness. And there are hundreds of them across our state.

"The last place to go for history is a museum. The best place is the street," said Banel.

Banel says these roads to nowhere have tales to tell.

"There are stories everywhere," he said.

The former Seatac neighborhood shrank as the nearby airport grew.

"From the early 60s to the early 90s, the number of planes taking off quadrupled."

The Port of Seattle offered to purchase all the "noise-affected" homes. The community disappeared.

"This is all that's left," Banel said, standing among thick vegetation.

Tacoma's Swan Creek Park was once a bustling wartime neighborhood, built to house thousands of military personnel and their families. It was converted to low-income housing in the 1950s, then slowly disappeared for decades. Today, it's a ghost town, crisscrossed by pavement without a purpose.

"If you know where to look, you can find these little gems hidden out of the way," added Banel. 

Seattle's Fort Lawton was the second-largest point of embarkation for soldiers headed to the Pacific in World War II. The once-busy military streets and their sidewalks remain in the wilds of Discovery Park.

An orphaned stretch of road at the end of Everett's Hewitt Avenue is the last remaining remnant of a bloody chapter in Northwest History.

"November 5, 1916," said Banel, "The Everett Massacre."

Union workers squared off against police here. 

"They march on these bricks," Banel said, gesturing to the surface beneath his feet.

Shots were fired and at least seven men died.

"Couple of officers and a bunch of the union guys," Banel said.

The bricks still tell that story to anyone willing to listen.

The ghost roads of Washington have nowhere to go. But they can still take us on a journey to the past. 

"It's not just some forgotten piece of concrete or pile of bricks," said Banel, "it's part of our history."

RELATED: A visionary's road to the future still stands in south central Washington

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