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Leavenworth
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The town and road map of Washington's Cascades will help you locate cities, towns, attractions and points of interest.
Nearby Cities and Towns
Cashmere, 11 miles
Dryden, 7 miles
Peshastin, 4 miles
Wenatchee, 23 miles
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Blewett Pass, 26 miles
Snoqualmie Pass, 83 miles
Stevens Pass, 35 miles
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Leavenworth, Washington
Town with a Bavarian Theme
Leavenworth, Washington is a charming Bavarian Village known for delightful specialty shops, numerous choices for cozy accommodations, and an active calendar offering a year-round schedule of festivals, music and live theater. Perhaps the most popular of the events is the Christmas Lighting and Ice Fest. The quaint, Bavarian theme is very at home against the breathtaking backdrop of Washington State's steep, snowy Cascade Mountains soaring thousands of feet above.
Leavenworth History
As you wander past the Bavarian architecture, imbibe the Germanic fare and browse through the many inviting specialty shops, you are enjoying the fruits of a well-laid plan.
Leavenworth is the inspiring story of a Washington town that reinvented itself. With the loss of its railway and timber industries, Leavenworth was a town in slow decline. In the early 1960s, it took the brave and determined decision to invest in tourism for its future.
Inspired by the resemblance of the surrounding countryside to Bavarian Germany, with its mountain wilderness and rolling meadows, Leavenworth was remodeled as a Bavarian alpine village. Such was the town's commitment to the project that the Bavarian theme was carefully researched, architects were hired (notably Heintz Ulbricht), building codes were changed and townspeople took to learning about the German culture.
Der Markt Platz (Front and 8th streets) has daily showings of a 30-minute film which tells this story. Projekt Bayern continues to develop the Bavarian vision. Such is the success of the project that nowadays not just tourists are attracted to the area, but also many people of direct German, Austrian and Norwegian descent have been drawn to Leavenworth as their new home.
Origin of Leavenworth's Name
Leavenworth, originally known as Icicle, was renamed after Captain Charles Leavenworth, president of the Okanagon Investment Company (one of the first commercial developers in this area of Washington), and a stockholder in the Great Northern Railway.
Find all the visitor information you need to plan your to Leavenworth. Just use the navigation links in the left hand column or the drop down menu at the top of the page to find where to stay, where to eat, what to see and what to do.
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Leavenworth
Like a Local: An Insider's Guide to Leavenworth Washington by Tamiko
Jordan. This book is like a tourist guide filled with useful information
and insights that are categorized by activities. Learn the area's
history and discover interesting places off the beaten path to visit the
next time you are in Leavenworth.
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Miracle
Town: Creating America's Bavarian Village in Leavenworth, Washington by
Ted Price. The story of how this economically depressed mountain logging
town became a beautiful and prosperous Bavarian village. Visitors go to enjoy the architecture, festivals, music, dance,
recreation activities, authentic food its very hospitable people.
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Leavenworth
(Images of America Series) by Rose Kinney-Holck and Upper Valley Museum
at Leavenworth. Leavenworth was once known as Icicle. The little boomtown in
the Cascades went bust, but was reinvented by its residents in the early
1960s with a Bavarian theme.
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