Editor’s note: This is a debut column from Kingston writer, photographer and blogger Johnny Walker. He posts regularly at http://blogs.kingstoncommunitynews.com/johnny.
As a photographer, I have always been fascinated with graffiti as an art form. It can be vibrant, cryptic, and often sophisticated. It may communicate powerful themes, mark territory, or simply be destructive. As old as the written word, graffiti treads a delicate balance between vandalism and appreciation.
The premier canvas in Kingston to appreciate graffiti as an art form seems to be the Billie Johnson Skate Park on Lindvog Road, where bold colors, letters and dramatic shapes break up the drab gray of concrete to offer an interesting if not yet sophisticated landscape to those who pass by. Winter has dampened progress but spring is here and we should expect fresh ideas.
Kingston; however, is not without its ugly side of graffiti. Nestled and lonely at the back of our Village Green Park off West Kingston Road, a Camperdown elm struggles in isolation, marred with bright paint around its otherwise sturdy trunk. A damaged sign indicating its unique and historic value leans tattered nearby. According to community arborist and “Tree Guy” Jim Trainer, this rare Camperdown is believed to be more than 100 years old and planted by a Kingston homestead pioneer. There are four Camperdown elms in Kitsap County believed to have roots in the region’s pioneer heritage. In addition to Kingston’s tree, there are two in Port Gamble and a fourth in Bremerton. These trees are treasures and deserve more than spray paint.
Camperdown elms are not typical trees; they are grafted trees unable to reproduce on their own. Developed in Dundee, Scotland, the Camperdown was originally produced by grafting a mutant elm branch to a Wych Elm, also known as a Scots or Scotch elm (Ulmus glabra). Though it has been widely reported as being developed in 1640, the more likely date is between 1830 and 1835 when the first Earl of Camperdown’s head forester, David Taylor, was credited with the success. This version of history seems most accurate because the Camperdown title wasn’t established until October 1797, after Admiral Adam Duncan of the Royal Navy won a significant naval battle off of the village Kamperduin near Bergen, North Holland. For his victory, Admiral Duncan was given the title 1st Viscount of Camperdown of Lundie. Duncan’s son, Robert, inherited the title. And so was the origin of Camperdown.
A Camperdown elm grafted from the original tree and later made famous by poet Marianne Moore was planted in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1872. Three years later, the current Washington state champion was planted in Port Gamble next to the General Store. We don’t precisely know the year Kingston’s tree was planted, Trainer dates it about 30 years younger than the 1875 Port Gamble champion, suggesting it was planted after Kingston was platted in 1890 but still early in the town’s history circa 1905. That’s quite a tree. It’s a royal, poetic, and a living testament of pioneer spirit.
As the graffiti season approaches and local artists think to refresh the skate park, I trust an improved perspective of our local heritage will bring new respect for Kingston’s beautiful Camperdown elm.
