Vashon Island Feature

"Here is a look at the Puget Sound islands throughout history -- the San Juan Islands, Whidbey Island, Bainbridge and Vashon Islands, and many others. Featured are the people who have come to the islands: Native Americans, explorers, entrepreneurs, settlers and visitors. We learn of the Native peoples' traditional ways of life and the changes that the new settlers brought. The islands saw small pioneer farms and, later, very successful strawberry fields. Industries emerged, from lumber mills large and small to boat construction and even ski design and production. National defense installations have also been on the islands, and wartime policies have had a strong impact on Bainbridge and Vashon. Yet the islands have also hosted many summer camps, resorts and the parks that islanders and visitors today enjoy. We learn about the boats that brought people to the islands before the age of motor vehicles. More recently, how have automobile ferries and bridges impacted the islands? Here, too, is the story of the bridges to the islands that have not been built. Finally, what are the challenges these islands may face in the future?" -- Publisher description

xv, 349 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Van Olinda's History of Vashon-Maury Island by pioneer resident O.S. Van Olinda, compiled and edited by regional historian Roland N. Carey, is a 1985 local history that preserves the foundational settlement narrative of this prominent Puget Sound island community. Based largely on Van Olinda’s early 20th-century writings and personal reminiscences, the volume chronicles the transformation of Vashon and its connected neighbor, Maury Island, from dense, remote timberlands into a thriving agricultural hub. The book meticulously details early logging operations, the booming greenhouse and strawberry farming industries, and the profound reliance on the "Mosquito Fleet" steamers that bridged the geographical isolation between the islanders, Seattle, and Tacoma. Ultimately, it serves as an indispensable, primary-source-driven resource for local historians seeking an intimate, grassroots perspective on the pioneer families, civic development, and resilient maritime culture that shaped the heart of Puget Sound.

84 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

The Past Remembered captures the deeply localized pioneer history of Vashon and Maury, twin landmasses joined by a narrow isthmus and entirely surrounded by the deep marine waters of Washington’s central Puget Sound. The compiled oral histories and community accounts document the immense physical labor required to clear dense island timberlands, gradually transforming the secluded, bluff-ringed topography into highly productive agricultural valleys and berry farms. Because the islands lacked any bridge connection to the rapidly growing Seattle mainland, the narratives strongly emphasize a profound geographic isolation that forced early residents to rely entirely on Mosquito Fleet steamers to navigate the region's turbulent tidal currents. Ultimately, this grassroots collection anchors personal memories to specific ferry landings and historic coastal homesteads, illustrating how this rugged, water-bound landscape inherently forged a deeply self-reliant Pacific Northwest island community.

[2], ix, 147 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 28 cm

History of Vashon-Maury Islands provides a foundational, firsthand pioneer account of the intense physical labor required to settle these twin, bluff-ringed landmasses situated in the deep marine waters of Washington’s central Puget Sound. Van Olinda details how the islands' steep, heavily timbered interiors initially dictated community development, forcing early homesteads, logging operations, and vital agricultural tracts to cling strictly to the shoreline where protected coves offered the only viable access to outside markets. By chronicling the arduous process of carving the first inland wagon roads through dense old-growth forests to connect these disparate waterfront landings, the narrative underscores the profound geographic isolation of an environment entirely dependent on the Mosquito Fleet for survival and trade. Ultimately, the book serves as a deeply localized spatial record of early maritime homesteading, demonstrating how the formidable, water-bound topography of this Pacific Northwest island demanded extreme self-reliance and fundamentally shaped its distinct pioneer evolution.

106 pages : illustrations, map ; 21 cm

Isle of the sea breezers examines the precarious pioneer settlement and gradual civic development across the heavily forested, deeply indented landmass of Vashon Island in central Puget Sound. Carey details how the region's formidable physical barriers—specifically the steep, heavily timbered coastal bluffs and the deep, tide-swept marine channels permanently severing the island from the mainland—strictly dictated the margins of early human survival and economic expansion. By mapping the immense physical labor required to carve landlocked agricultural communities from the dense upland plateaus and establish vital deepwater docks along the sheltered shores of Quartermaster Harbor, the narrative highlights the monumental logistical effort necessary to anchor a permanent society in this demanding maritime environment. The absolute geographic isolation from viable overland routes initially forced these remote homesteaders into a strict reliance on the deepwater marine highway, completely anchoring their commercial and communication lifelines to the perilous, weather-dependent navigation of the Puget Sound "mosquito fleet" steamboats. Ultimately, this historical record serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the severe aquatic isolation and complex island topography of this Pacific Northwest frontier fundamentally shaped the fiercely resilient, strictly maritime-dependent character of the Vashon community.

135 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm