We knew that on our way to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival we would be driving through the wonderful town of Arlington, Washington, so dear husband suggested that we bring along a box of books to put into the little free libraries there. What a great idea!
Arlington has a population of about 20,000 people, and it has a charming, historic downtown. It would be a great place to retire, because housing costs are almost reasonable, compared to the Seattle area. Sadly, it will be getting an Amazon Fulfillment Center soon, so it will gain 1,000 jobs but probably lose a lot of charm and affordability. But as usual, I digress.
According to the official little free library website, Arlington currently has 6 registered little free libraries. One is only identified by latitude and longitude, so we skipped that one because it would be too much of a hassle to locate. We did visit the other five, though, and they were charming. Check out the pictures below.
Another thing I love about little free libraries is that they all seem to come with a unique story. Sometimes those stories are included in the map section of the little free library website. I always enjoy these stories.
For example, one of these libraries is hosted by a retired librarian who was hoping to get rid of some of her books, but now she has more books than she started with, because people are so great about donating them! She now has two little free libraries side by side, one for adult books, another for children’s books.
Two others, the TARDIS and the baby blue one with the peeling paint, were designed by a girl scout troop. The peeling paint one got vandalized and had to be repaired and relocated. I hope these two have someone taking regular care of them.
The large one was placed in front of a real estate office by one of the brokers. It had plenty of space for good books! The broker also has a library in front of his house. Good for him!
And the green one is strategically placed at a school bus stop. It’s a rural neighborhood, so the steward says it is visited by “children, dogs, horses and people out walking.” I wonder if the horses or dogs have left any books.
I love that for every little free library there’s a story. But the final sentence of each of those stories is, by default, a simple one. Please read.
Read any good books lately? Try mine! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
The View from a Drawbridge 