Strawberry Hill
I am a proud resident of Tacoma’s McKinley Hill, where in yesteryears the cable cars ran from port to mine, and every employee of Burlington Northern would clamor to call it home.
Yet, not even many Tacomans know of McKinley’s smaller sister, the gentler slope to the east named Strawberry Hill, nor how it came to be named as such. Even today, it continues its happy low profile existence while enjoying some of the finest views the city can afford.
I’ll need to take you back farther than “back-in-the-day”; much farther back. Before the mines, the cable cars, the railroad; before there even was a town of Tacoma. You have to go way back to the time when the first peoples walked and talked with the trees, and the sky sang its love song to the sea.
Copyright 2008 by Kalina Kucera. All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
Kali Kucera
Kali has been creating stories, plays, operas, and other imaginative experiences for over 40 years. After serving as a performer, educator, publisher, activist, and mobilizer, including founding the Tacoma Poet Laureate program, Kali emigrated to Ecuador to open a new frontier of his creative life, where he continues to write stories today. For more information, see https://papakali.com/about-papakali-2/.