Kingston (formerly Appletree Cove) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,099 at the 2010 census. Kingston is along the shores of Appletree Cove and Puget Sound, and is home to a major Washington State Ferry terminal linking it to Edmonds.

Founded in 1853 by Benjamin Bannister, the community was originally known as “Appletree Cove”. By 1880 it was a lumber town until the mill closed next to in the prematurely 20th century. Known as the “little city by the sea”, Kingston is a northern gateway to the Olympic Peninsula and is the social and economic center of the north terminate of the Kitsap Peninsula.

In 1869, W.S. Ladd and his wife Caroline built a cabin upon Appletree Cove. Michael King next bought the cabin nine years later. He moved in along past ten oxen and ten men. They slowly logged the hills roughly Appletree Cove. King built many little buildings and shacks along the shore for his men and animals. In 1882, he was done and moved on. The shacks and bunkhouses were left at the back and lived in by drifters, squatters and antiquated loggers. People full of beans in the Place often referred to this as “King’s Town”, probably as a joke. The make known slowly evolved into Kingston and stuck.

The Kingston townsite was platted on April 24, 1890, by C.C. Calkins and Samuel B. Brierly. Calkins dreamed of Kingston as a resort town for vacationers from Seattle. Calkins called it “the Monterey of Washington”. Calkins had drawings and designs for a giant hotel upon the waterfront, with a ship launch, a church upon the hill, and a college. After Calkins and Brierly platted the town, a belittle than time-honored number of people showed up to come to an agreement there. Calkins subsequently gave in the works and left. The town slowly grew, but not at the pace that Calkins had dreamed.

Kingston is located in northeastern Kitsap County at 47°47′56″N 122°29′57″W / 47.79889°N 122.49917°W / 47.79889; -122.49917 (47.798764, −122.499071), on the east side of the Kitsap Peninsula. Washington State Route 104 runs through the community from the Washington State Ferry terminal, leading northwest 7 miles (11 km) to Port Gamble. Bremerton is 26 miles (42 km) to the southwest by highway.