Herron Island was named by
Charles Wilkes during the
Wilkes Expedition of 1838–1842, to honor Lewis Herron, the expedition's
cooper. Herron Island is a completely private island. It was incorporated on April 30, 1958, as Herron Maintenance Co. (HMC), a non-profit, non-stock Washington corporation consisting of the owners and purchasers of property on Herron Island. HMC is governed by its bylaws and administered by an unsalaried Board of Trustees elected annually from the membership. The Board is responsible for overseeing the operations and maintenance of the corporation's properties, and establishing a balanced budget to fund these operations. Herron Island is funded solely by annual and special assessments paid by the members and by the ferry fee.
1792 Lieutenant Peter Puget, under the command of Captain George Vancouver, explored what is now known as Case Inlet in Puget Sound, in May 1792. On the 23rd of May, the sailors didn't get underway until 8:00 AM, much later than usual, due to the very heavy fog in the area. Because a new group of Indians was encountered at the mouth of the Nisqually river, and Lt. Puget didn't know whether they were friendly or not, the ship delayed landing until 2:00 PM that afternoon. Just after the landing, another squall, with heavy rains and wind gusts, prevented them from proceeding any further that day. The tiny island they landed upon was dubbed "Wednesday Island". It was actually Tuesday here, but the Vancouver expedition used "England time" throughout their explorations. The ship's botanist, Archibald Menzies, whose job it was to explore every place they landed, refused to venture from the landing site to collect soil and botanical specimens, due to the heavy rain and wind.
1841 In 1841, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the United States Navy, re-explored, re-charted (and frequently renamed) the islands of Puget Sound. Large and important islands were renamed for his most important sailors. Smaller islands were renamed for his lesser sailors. Lt. Wilkes renamed Wednesday Island for Seaman Herron. ==References==