By JOSEPH MEEKER

For The Beachcomber

Mainland cities grow from the inside out, but small islands are populated from the outside in. The first human inhabitants arrive by water and settle on the shoreline to hunt and fish. Vashon began with native peoples earning their living on our cobbled beaches with only occasional forays into the interior for wood and meat.

When Europeans arrived, they followed the same pattern. Early Vashon was a scattered collection of shoreline communities linked only by small boats and later by small ferries. Most people rowed their way to fellowship with others, but not too often.

The advent of motorized transport in the early 20th century led soon to road building, opening the Island interior to logging and settlement. A hundred years ago Vashon’s forests nearly disappeared, and homes and businesses began to emerge in the Island’s interior. Auto ferries followed shortly, and a commuting culture was founded by many who earned their living on the mainland and returned to the Island only for evenings and weekends.

From time to time, proposals are made to connect Vashon to the mainland by building bridges. The last time such an effort was made, Islanders responded by reviving the Bridge Opposition Organization (BOO!). They know that when a small island is connected to the mainland by a bridge or tunnel, it becomes a peninsula and ceases to be an island in any significant sense. Is Manhattan really an island? Is Mercer? Ferry transport may be inconvenient, but it protects our Island from runaway exploitation.

Vashon is not a destination for tourists, but a home for its residents. When small islands are invaded by cruise ships, their economies may be seasonally stimulated at the cost of their character and culture, as has happened in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Alaskan coastal islands. When transportation becomes easy and profitable, the costs to islanders are enormous.

— Joseph Meeker, a former professor of comparative literature, will co-lead a seminar on island studies at Vashon College next spring. Transportation on small islands will be one of the topics.