Port Kingston Marina
by Greg Reed
Title
Port Kingston Marina
Artist
Greg Reed
Medium
Photograph - Photo
Description
Taken September 2006 at the Port Kingston Marina, Washington
Port History
This file made possible by: Washington Public Ports Association
HistoryLink File #9427
Voters on December 27, 1919, approve Port of Kingston’s plan to purchase and improve a wharf on Appletree Cove.
On December 27, 1919, voters approve the Port of Kingston’s plan to purchase a wharf on Appletree Cove and improve it for handling freight and passengers. Appletree Cove is on Puget Sound, on the south side of the Kitsap County town of Kingston. The Port of Kingston was formed in July 1919 to provide a public agency to maintain a landing dock for Mosquito Fleet steamers that provide transportation around Puget Sound. It needed voter approval of its comprehensive port development plan before beginning any improvement projects. In 1951 the state highway department will take over Puget Sound ferry operations and lease Port land for its terminal. The Port will then shift its efforts to developing a protected harbor and marina facilities. In 1966 the Army Corps of Engineers will construct a breakwater and basin and the Port will build a 274-slip marina, later expanded to include a small-boat facility and a guest dock. In 1997 the Port will purchase North Beach, just north of the ferry terminal and make it accessible for public use. In 2010 the Port will begin a twice-daily passenger ferry service between Kingston and downtown Seattle.
Logging and Leisure
Appletree Cove, on which Kingston, an unincorporated town in Kitsap County, sits, attracted its first white settlers in the 1880s and its first plat was filed in 1890. The Kingston Land and Improvement Company, formed by a group of Seattle investors, sought to establish the area as a “resort and hideaway for Seattle folk,” according to Kingston historian Harold F. Osborne (Little City by the Sea, 6).
Logging also drew people to the area. A logging railroad that brought logs in from the inland forests of the peninsula ended at a dock on the cove. Ships carried the logs to area sawmills. The Kingston Shingle Company employed a large number of area residents in the first two decades of the twentieth century.
Some rudimentary roads connected Kitsap Peninsula towns in the early twentieth century, but the Tacoma Narrows Bridge did not open until 1940 and passenger rail lines stopped at Tacoma and Seattle. This left peninsula residents mostly reliant on waterborne transportation.
Some residents took to the water in their own small boats, much as the Indians had for thousands of years. As towns grew and steamships became more common on Puget Sound, freight and passengers moved around more often on commercially operated steamers. Known collectively as the Mosquito Fleet, the various steamship companies created a network of routes that connected the many small towns dotting the coast of Puget Sound and Hood Canal with each other and with the larger cities, such as Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia.
A Sheltered Harbor
Kingston, situated on one of the few sheltered harbors between Port Townsend and Seattle, served as a convenient stop for passenger and freight lines. The S.S. Dode ran between Seattle, Kingston, and towns on Hood Canal. The May B (later retrofitted and renamed May B II) connected Kingston with Ballard, a neighborhood in Seattle. The State of Washington, a sternwheeler, ran between Kingston, Port Gamble, and other Hood Canal towns.
Having a steamship dock helped Kingston grow into a freight and passenger hub. Farmers, loggers, and sawmill workers living in the surrounding countryside used the Kingston dock to load their farm produce onto steamers headed for markets and to take trips themselves. Likewise, people from larger towns came to Kingston for day trips or extended vacations. For holidays like the Fourth of July, Kingston became a popular destination for “excursionists.”
Source: http://www.portofkingston.org/port-history/
Uploaded
September 8th, 2012
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Comments (8)
Gregory A Mitchell Photography
Congratulations Greg on being featured in the Fine Art America Group “The Art of Fishing”. An excellent Art of Fishing Marina capture! A wonderful Pacific Northwest view with the low hanging clouds. The angle of the work is quite creative! Feel free to place this work in the 2023 featured discussion for viewing and discussion should you like
Jan Mulherin
Congratulations!! This stunning image has been selected to be featured for the week in the “Art for Ever with You” Group Home Page. You are welcome to add a preview of this featured image to the group’s discussion post titled “2020 April: Stunning Group Featured Images and Thank-you’s” for a permanent display within the group, to share this achievement with others. Also feel free to post your feature on our group Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/296998814248643/ Thank you for your participation in the group! ~Jan (April 21, 2020)
John M Bailey
Congratulations on your feature in the Fine Art America Group "Images That Excite You!"
Greg Reed replied:
Thank you John for the feature in the Fine Art America Group "Images That Excite You!" and the fav!!
Jenny Rainbow
Impressive looking bay with yachts and bluish silver tones!
Greg Reed replied:
Indeed Jenny, I love the whole NW Washington State area & BC!! Thanks for the lovely comment!! :)