How We Roll
The Bigelow Neighborhood is a quiet, safe place, where neighbors know each other and work together. BNA members have several neighborhood work parties each year to do neighborhood cleanups to improve our streets and sidewalks and the Bigelow Springs Park. Yearly social events like Novemberfest, the Caroling Party, and the summer Block Party are well-attended.
We are just a quick walk from downtown, with beautiful views of Olympia, the Puget Sound and the Black Hills from our streets and homes. This is a great place to live.
Attractions
Three assets, which drew people to Olympia in the first place, and to the Bigelow hillside in particular, were the artesian wells, good soil, and views. As you can see on the topographic map of the Bigelow Neighborhood below, there is a 140-foot vertical drop from its northeast corner to the East Bay Drive. Elevations are numbered in feet above sea level. This means almost all houses and streets in the BNA have good views.
Notice also that there are three artesian wells within our boundaries (blue circles). Northernmost is the Bigelow Springs, in the Bigelow Springs Park, with a stream flowing from it year-round. It used to supply the Bigelow House and its neighbors with drinking water. Just east of our boundary, near Olympia Avenue between Tullis and Bethel, is a large artesian well that supplied most of the East Side with drinking water before the Watershed Park waterworks, and then McAllister Springs, were developed. Scenes of Bigelow Springs Park are below.
We're also home to the Olympia Avenue Historic District (OAHD), where most homes were built before 1920, and are nicely renovated. But there are plenty more historic, restored houses throughout the neighborhood to see. A self-guided, printable tour brochure of the OAHD is found here.
Come visit us, or view some of our historic properties in the Historic Homes Gallery.
