The term seven hills of Seattle refers unofficially to the hills the U.S. city was built on and around, though there is no consensus on exactly which hills it refers to. City of Seattle 2011 press release: "Seating walls on the plaza highlight the seven hills of Seattle and orient the viewer to the highest points of our city."Nelson 1990: "We can only imagine how Chief Sealth would view his Duwamish homeland today-the seven hills of Seattle bulldozed to fill tidelands where his people once gathered food..." The term has been used to refer to several other cities, most notably Rome and Constantinople.
The seven hills Walt Crowley considered the main candidates for the seven hills to be:Crowley 2003 First Hill, nicknamed "Pill Hill" because of the many hospitals and medical clinics located there Yesler Hill – currently Yesler Terrace Cherry Hill – located to the east of First Hill (previously called Second Hill or Renton Hill – both these names have passed out of common usage)Sophie Frye Bass, When Seattle Was a Village, 1947 Denny Hillalso noted as one of the seven hills by Williams 1989 – regraded, now called the Denny Regrade Capitol Hillalso noted as one of the seven hills by Johnston 2008 Queen Anne Hill Beacon Hill The hills above were associated with seven boulders in the City of Seattle's Seven Hills Park.Seattle Parks and Recreation, 2010Seattle Times 2009
Other hills people sometimes consider among the "seven hills of Seattle" include: West Seattle – originally incorporated as a separate city, and not annexed by Seattle until 1907Wilma 2005 Magnolia Graham Hill Crown Hill – not annexed until 1954 Mount BakerFerriss 1953: "the 'floating bridge' leading over Lake Washington to the unique city portal that pierces Mt. Baker, one of the 'seven hills of Seattle'"
Geology Seattle's topography is due largely to Pleistocene ice age glaciation. Nearly all of the city's seven hills are characterized as drumlins (Beacon Hill, First Hill, Capitol Hill, Queen Anne Hill, Mount Baker) or drift uplands (Magnolia, West Seattle).Zentner 2015
"Seven Hills of Seattle" annual walk The Seattle-Bergen Sister City Association (Sister Cities International) sponsors an annual "Seven Hills of Seattle" walk.Seattle Times 2011Norwegian American Weekly 2009Seattle Parks and Recreation 2013 Seattle's sister city, Bergen, Norway, is known as the City of Seven Mountains.
See also List of cities claimed to be built on seven hills Seven hills of Rome – probably the origin of the romanticism of 'seven hills' History of Seattle before 1900 Seven hills (disambiguation)
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, narrated by Nick Zentner (Central Washington University Department of Geological Sciences). Uploaded March 2, 2015 by Hugefloods.com (Nick Zentner and Tom Foster: Discover the Ice Age Floods).