http://chayden.org/hikingblog/?p=166
NEWCASTLE - Red Town (King) ....
Newcastle is a mostly residential city of about 8,000 at a site at the base of the hill below the original town. There is a great park of historical interest that the site is located on with trails leading to other points of interest, including a Nike Missle site from the Cold War. The area has many residents. Newcastle Days, held in September at Lake Boren Park often features a booth by the Newcastle Historical Society. REMAINS: Hotel ruins, Coal mining relics, the Baima House (built in the early twentieth century), railroad grade, site of school,and cemetary. Not enough "ghost"?
http://forums.ghosttowns.com/showthread.php?14355-Looking-for-Destinations-in-WA
Newcastle is now an incorporated town. The hillside is covered with houses and McMansions. The park is still a park of course. Some club has added signs and historical info about the area within the park. The huge old mine shaft is covered with a grate and I believe a cement barrier (can't remember). The cemetery is fenced and locked. If you are interested in going to the cemetery you need to call the caretaker and make an appointment.
It was in Cougar Mtn Park. There are quite a few historical sites left in the park. Also, do you know about the old Nike bases up the way from there?
There were quite a few towns on cougar mtn - Rainbow town, Red Town, etc. Most of the sites have been destroyed by building.
The area is littered with Mine shafts.
up at the trailhead in the park, you've got the remains of the old hotel, of which a corner of the boiler room still stands, the foundations of the old Bagley steam donkey engine, the old site of a mill pond, the Ford Slope mine entrance and the old dam. If you hike down Coal Creek, you follow an old rail grade that leads eventually to the remains of an old turntable. Along the main road near the trail head is an open field where the old Newcastle School was once located.
Farther west you have the Baima House, which is the only remaining company house, near an old ore elevator, and a few other buildings from old Newcastle.
Also, a recently open trail follows the grade of a mining railroad that headed for Lake Washington, following it, you eventually reach the site of an old railroad tressel, of which the footing pits are still visible.
we are talking about Newcastle just due south of Bellevue? Where is the park located?
Yep, that Newcastle. Cougar Mtn Park is just a little off and east of Coal Creek Parkway.
you head east from the stoplight downtown (eg McDonalds, Arco), to the first stop sign, then turn left (Newcastle-Golf Club Road), then continue down that road a couple of miles to a pretty much hairpin turn where there will be a sign for Cougar Mtn. Park and a parking lot for the trailhead.
You can download maps for the park here from the King County website. Coal Creek Park is actually a seperate park, no longer maintained by King County Parks, but by the city of Bellevue. It was sold to Bellevue when King County Parks was having budget problems several years ago. There are lots of reminants in and around Coal Creek. Cougar Mountain has the concreted in portal of the Ford Slope Mine near the Red Town Trailhead, and an air shaft that is covered with a grate made of rebar near the Clay Pit. There is the entrance to a mine near the Newcastle Nursery, also grated. The first mine at Newcastle was located nearby, but its now covered with dirt.
Red Town, Rainbow Town, and Finn Town actually refer to the neighborhoods that made up what was originally referred to as Coal Creek, but became Newcastle when they moved the post office from "old" Newcastle (where present day Newcastle is now) to Coal Creek, around the time that most of the mining shifted to the Ford Slope Mine.
http://picasaweb.google.com/seniorhikers/CoalCreekTrail50109#
http://picasaweb.google.com/seniorhikers/CougarMtRedtown101008#
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http://wildwests.com/Reference%20Material/Time%20passes%20quickly.doc
NewCastle – RedTown
The original city of Newcastle was founded in the late 1800's as a coal mining town. It had been claimed that its population rivaled Seattle at one time, but that claim is most likely not true. Parts of the town had separate names such as Red Town, Finn Town, and Rainbow Town, mostly based off the color of the houses. A railroad ran from Newcastle to Lake Washington where coal was loaded onto barges. Today, Newcastle is a mostly residential city of about 8,000 at a site at the base of the hill below the original town. Nearby lake Boren is home to a cemetery from the original town. One interesting story is of a locomotive that fell off the tracks into the lake, and it is claimed that the engine is still at the bottom. Most mining at Newcastle seized in the thirties, with minor Gathering continuing for another thirty years. The original site can be accessed by heading east on Newcastle- Golf Course Road to the Red Town trailhead
There is a great park of historical interest that the site is located on with trails leading to other points of interest, including a Nike Missile site from the Cold War. The area has many residents. Newcastle Days, held in September at Lake Boren Park often features a booth by the Newcastle Historical Society.
REMAINS: Hotel ruins, Coal mining relics, the Baima House (built in the early twentieth century), railroad grade, site of school,and cemetary.