With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Is Bainbridge's Vanished Village Better Off Preserved, or As a Park?

On a thickly wooded hillside, blue and white porcelain shards glint under layers of ivy.

What was once a bowl depicting an ornate pattern of cherry blossoms and soaring cranes is now scattered across the forest floor. Nearby, embedded in the surface of the soil, is a brush handle made of bone, a rusted tea kettle and a black leather shoe for very small foot.

This forest overlooking Blakely Harbor is littered with artifacts from Yama, a vanished village that was once home to Bainbridge Island’s earliest Japanese immigrants. Established in the 1890s as a segregated portion of the Port Blakely mill town, Yama in its heyday boasted a general store, tea garden, hotel, bathhouse, Buddhist temple, school, and an ice-cream parlor that was so good, even non-Japanese children ventured in for a taste....
Read entire article at Kitsap Sun (WA)