O.S. Van Olinda

Legends of Vashon, October 2025

Legends of Vashon: His Night Out

By O.S. Van Olinda One afternoon in early September 1895, Mr. Lehmann started out from Seattle in his little sloop, having with him his pretty little three-year-old daughter. He intended sailing over to Vashon Landing, tying his boat up there and walking across to visit his brother John, who at that time owned the farm…

Going Shopping in ’78
December 2024, Legends of Vashon

Going Shopping in ’78

Legends of Vashon By O.S. Van Olinda This account of a day’s shopping in 1878 is from the diary of a fifteen-year-old boy, whom I shall call Bill Jones. His real name is John Smith, but he might not wish that his identity be disclosed. Bill’s father was among the first settlers on Vashon Island,…

Dope – Legends of Vashon, 1895
April 2024, Legends of Vashon

Dope – Legends of Vashon, 1895

By O.S. Van Olinda Some 13 years after the first settlement was made on Vashon, the summer of 1891 to be exact, J.E. Mace bought a 10-acre tract of wild land in what was then known as the “Vermontville settlement,” now the Glen Acres district. Thirteen years wasn’t really much time in those days, when…