The island’s extensive rural areas and protected public forests and beaches are the draw for many of the residents and visitors alike. Her colorful mural showcases six climate-endangered birds. Outside VCA on Heron Meadow, visitors can stroll by a permanent National Audubon Society-inspired mural installation painted by local artist Britt Freda. The state-of-the-art auditorium hosts national and local music, theater and dance productions the classrooms provide space for art workshops and dance classes. The Vashon Center for the Arts (called VCA in island vernacular) displays rotating art exhibitions. On the first Friday of the month, all the galleries open for the First Friday Gallery Cruise. In May and December, more than 70 island artists open their spaces to the public for a studio tour, a 30-year island tradition. Vashon-Maury is home to a thriving arts community, with 10 galleries and multiple artist studios. Vashon Center for the Arts (Photos courtesy Vashon Center for The Arts) To fully understand the island’s history, an online or in-person visit to The Vashon Island Heritage Museum is a recommended first stop. It gives visitors an appreciation of the town’s settlement by Croatian and Norwegian immigrants and the sites of its former school, hotel, general store, post office and the largest dry dock on the West Coast. The Dockton Historical Interpretive Trail created by the community of Dockton on Maury Island provides a 1-mile, signed walk of the town’s history. The island is dotted with the remnants of smaller hamlets like Burton and Dockton, shoreline communities that evolved when boat transportation was the only way to get around. Shinglemill Trail (Photo courtesy Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust) In 1916, island residents built an artificial isthmus, permanently connecting the two islands and officially linking their names. Back then at low tide, the two islands were connected by a tidal flat, creating a gathering site for Native people. George Vancouver was the first non-Native who explored and mapped Vashon as part of the 1792 Royal British Navy survey of Puget Sound, while smaller Maury Island was included in the Charles Wilkes U.S.
The hyphenated island was once two bodies of land. In 1856, the island’s Native population was dispersed to reservations and in 1942, the island’s Japanese population was dispersed to internment camps. One of Vashon Adventures’ evening tours in Quartermaster Harbor (Photo courtesy Elise Giordano Photography)īut for the Native peoples of Puget Sound who had inhabited Vashon-Maury for over 7,000 years and for the descendants of the island’s Japanese immigrants whose agricultural efforts had transformed the land into fruit and vegetable farms, the idyllic island carries reminders of forced government removal and relocation. For others, it evokes fond memories of summer camp - the island’s Camp Sealth is the oldest and largest on the West Coast. For some, it’s a transit stop on the Southworth-Fauntleroy ferry. Vashon-Maury is the largest island in southern Puget Sound and one familiar to many West Sounders. At 40 square miles, the island is home to an eclectic mix of farmers, artists and ferry commuters who prefer both its rural lifestyle and the isolation of its ferry-only accessibility.
Point Robinson Lighthouse (Photo courtesy Terry Behal Photography)Ī road trip through artsy, progressive Vashon-Maury Island feels a bit like tumbling down Alice’s Wonderland rabbit hole.
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