Dockton King County Park, located on the south shoreline of Maury Island, was created during the Great Depression as a project of the Works Progress Administration and are now part of King County’s growing regional park system. Theo Berry was the local storekeeper and WPA administrator. The original structures, which included a bathhouse, a kitchen building, a bandstand, toilet facilities and a lifeguard residence, have since been replaced.
The now-protected mile of undeveloped shoreline is recognized as one of the most important forage fish areas in Puget Sound, providing critical food supplies for south Sound’s resident orca pods and for Chinook salmon. It is a favorite scuba diving spot and an excellent beach walk. The intact uplands forested portion contains one of the largest contiguous madrone bluff ecosystems that remain in Puget Sound and provides critical water recharge to a federally designated sole source aquifer supplying clean drinking water to thousands of people.
Author: Vashon Island
