Thank you to those of you who have responded to our ads and flyers regarding Graham’s lost dog Mia.  Below is an updated flyer with her information.   Any help is greatly appreciated!

[/caption]While each of the Bellingham Neighborhoods has its own character, the

Birchwood Neighborhood has qualities that are not found anywhere else in the City. Some things a visitor driving through the

Birchwood Neighborhood would probably discover early on would include the rural nature of the community, with streets lined with huge fir & maple trees and the unusually large lots (it’s not uncommon here to have a 1/2 acre lot or larger. You might even see a horse or a couple of chickens.

In the midst all this you’ll find the Bellingham Golf & Country Club, Bellingham Technical College, a variety of parks & trails, a variety of well kept housing choices, a commercial area & multifamily apartment complexes.

For those of you who have interest in the current inventory of Bellingham’s Birchwood real estate, you can access it here on the Johnson Team’s web site.

If you currently own Birchwood real estate & would like to receive an on-line report of the value of your Birchwood real estate, you can do so by clicking here.

If you’d care to see a current market report of recent Birchwood real estate activity click here

This pdf report covers all activity through 11/10/08. As you can see from the report, there are currently 14 homes listed for sale in the Birchwood Neighborhood ranging in value from $129,900 to $525,000 & over the last 6 months, 10 homes have sold from a low of $190,000 to a high of $385,000. Homes in the Birchwood Neighborhood on average are selling within 96% of their list price.

For those of you who are moving to Bellingham & considering Birchwood real estate, you might like to know about the schools servicing the Birchwood Neighborhood. The Birchwood Elementary is located 3200 Pinewood & is Called “The Home of the Bulldogs”. Shuksan Middle School is located at 2713 Alderwood Ave & is known as “The Home of the Cougars“. Squalicum High School or “The Home of the Storm” is located at 3773 East McLeod.

The early beginnings of Bellingham date back to the 1850’s so naturally the Bellingham area is rich in history. A slice of Bellingham’s history that comes from the Birchwood Neighborhood would include the following:
In 1917 the Bellingham Coal Mines opened near present-day Northwest and Birchwood Avenues. The mine extended to hundreds of miles of tunnels as deep as 1200′. It ran southwest to Bellingham Bay, on both sides of Squalicum Creek, an area of about one square mile. It employed some 250 miners digging over 200,000 tons of coal annually, at its peak in the 1920’s. It was closed in 1955. All evidence of mining in the Birchwood Neighborhood is gone now with the exception of memories embedded in the minds of those that lived and worked there at the time & those pieces of history that are recorded in diaries & books written by local authors. There is an old tale of Chinese workers, each with their life savings in their money belts, trapped in a flooded mine shaft that are still entombed to this day. If you have a memory or photo of the area that you’d care to share, I’d love to hear from you.

For those of you who would care to contribute to the section of our blog “Whatcom County Remembered“, by including your memories of the area, I’d encourage you to contact us. We’d love to include your articles & photos.

The City of Bellingham describes the Birchwood Neighborhood in the following manner:
The Birchwood neighborhood is home to nearly 5,000 residents according to the 2000 census (7.3% of the total city population). The neighborhood is characterized by older, well-kept homes built on large lots (20,000 square feet or greater). The large lots, mature landscaping, and narrow streets lend a rural atmosphere to the neighborhood. Apartment complexes have been constructed in the multifamily zoned areas primarily along Northwest Avenue and W. Maplewood. In addition, there is a commercial area located near the intersection of Northwest, W. Maplewood and Birchwood Avenue that provides services to the Birchwood, Cornwall Park and Columbia neighborhoods.

Other significant features of the neighborhood include the Bellingham Golf and Country Club, the Squalicum Creek greenbelt, Bellingham Technical College, and Shuksan Middle School.

Birchwood Park provides neighborhood amenities including a playground, basketball court, picnic shelter and open play field. Shuksan Meadows, adjacent to Shuksan Middle School, provides a playground and half-court basketball Court near the apartment complexes. Squalicum Creek Park is a new community park acquired with Beyond Greenway Levy funds. The master plan for this 42 acre park includes lighted ballfields, multi-use fields, playgrounds, picnic shelters, enclosed pavilion building, and off-leash dog park. Little Squalicum Park, located just outside the neighborhood boundary, provides salt water frontage on Bellingham Bay. The Bay to Baker Trail and Greenway connects Little Squalicum, Birchwood and Squalicum Creek Parks.

To get an idea of the Bellingham Birchwood Neighborhood or Bellingham Birchwood real estate, review the City’s Birchwood Neighborhood Basemap. From this map, you can determine parcel lines, public buildings, community parks, trails & open space in the Bellingham Birchwood Neighborhood & get a better idea of Birchwood real estate. The City’s Birchwood Neighborhood Circulation map will help you understand the traffic patterns that residents of the Birchwood Neighborhood use & what the more highly trafficked routes are. A quick review of the City’s Birchwood Neighborhood Land Use map will explain the different zoning designations. If you are looking for Birchwood real estate or making a decision on what you can do to develop your real estate in the Birchwood Neighborhood, this map is a good place to start your research. The City’s Birchwood Neighborhood Zoning map is another way of determining the appropriate uses of your Birchwood real estate.