Bellingham's  Maritime Heritage Center
(360) 676-6806
2014 C St
Bellingham, WA 98225

Hours - Open Daily -   Learning Center is open Monday through Friday and closed holidays.  9 a.m. - dusk. 

Admission: Free

The Bellingham Maritime Heritage Center is actually a working Salmon life-cycle facility with learning center.    The big draw to this center is the salmon ladders during the yearly salmon run in mid-October when hundreds of people gather to watch the salmon make their way up the water steps to spawn and end their life cycle.

Circle Of Life

At the top of the Maritime Heritage center's salmon ladder there is a large pipe that feeds fresh water from the adjacent Whatcom creek, and just beyond that is a large rearing tank where the baby salmon are allowed to grow to a large enough size to be released into Whatcom creek where they then swim downstream into Puget Sound to live their life before returning up the salmon ladder to spawn and end their life.  (They Get Killed And Eaten!)

 Stairway To Heaven Salmon Ladders