By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Kingston has always been water dependent. For many years, goods and services came by ship and ferry. One of the first white men to explore its curving shoreline was Lt. Charles Wilkes, who explored Puget Sound in May 1841.

Wilkes named Kingston's Apple Cove, perhaps after blooming crab apple trees on its banks, according to local history buff Harold Osborne. "Little City by the Sea" is an interesting picture book Osborne helped compile to note Kingston's centennial in 1990.

The origin of the name "Kingston" is unclear, according to Osborne. An early logger and land owner named Michael King appeared on the scene in 1878, and it may be that his collections of shacks jokingly were known as King's Town.

By the early 1900s, the Puget Sound's legendary Mosquito Fleet was providing service to and from Kingston. The first ferry capable of hauling cars went into service on the Kingston-Edmonds run in 1923. The following year, a second boat was added called the "City of Kingston." The crossing took about 45 minutes; today it takes about 30 minutes.

A 1925 photograph in Osborne's book shows an early traffic jam, with cars backed up Central Avenue waiting for the ferry, just as they do 72 years later.