Marcia Willoughby Tucker’s Day Island: A Glimpse of the Past provides a granular local and spatial chronicle of Day Island, a small tidal landform situated along the turbulent waters of the Tacoma Narrows in southern Puget Sound. The volume documents how late-nineteenth-century homesteads, summer cottages, and small-craft boatyards were systematically superimposed onto the estuarine shoreline, seasonal shellfish beds, and fishing corridors traditionally stewarded by the Puyallup and Southern Coast Salish peoples. Tucker details the evolution of the island’s maritime logistics, illustrating how early residents navigated the treacherous tidal currents of the Narrows, established mosquito fleet launch connections to Tacoma, and eventually engineered permanent bridge transit to the Pierce County mainland. Ultimately, the narrative captures the transition of an exposed tidal waypoint into a specialized maritime and residential enclave, illustrating how early twentieth-century coastal communities remained fundamentally shaped by the natural marine hydrology of the Salish Sea.

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