Point Defiance Park is a 760-acre public landscape at the tip of Tacoma’s peninsula on Puget Sound, known for its high bluffs, beaches, trails, gardens, ferry terminal, zoo and aquarium, Fort Nisqually, and extensive old-growth forest. First set aside as a military reservation after the Wilkes Expedition mapped the region in the 1840s, it was never used for defense and became a public park in 1888, with full title transferred to the city in 1905. Over time it grew into a major recreation and heritage site, blending scenic natural features, historic structures, wildlife habitat, and reclaimed former industrial land at Dune Peninsula.