Wong Kim Ark was born around 1870 in San Francisco’s Chinatown. After moving back to China, he hoped to return, but was barred by the Chinese Exclusion Act; the U.S. did not consider him a citizen.

Tucked into a dense grove of pine trees, the troll looms over visitors, his gnarled pine branch hair akimbo, seated with his legs stretched out and one arm wrapped around a tree, with an almost ...