America's Love of Wood
Early American settlers had a strong connection with the land and a deep appreciation for wood.
The forests provided man's every need to survive the wilderness and so much more. Wood was used to build man's shelter, provided fuel for his warmth and cooking needs, and was fashioned by skillful hands into tools and every manner of furnishings for his comfort. His life revolved around the utilization of wood, from wooden cradle at birth to wooden casket at death.
William Penn revealed the reverence felt and kindred nature of wood when he described it as, "a substance with a soul".
When the colonies sought an emblem for the first coin, the Massachusetts Bay Colony chose a tree: the Pine Tree shilling along with the Willow Tree and Oak Tree coins seemed perfect choices to symbolize the new nation. Joseph Jenks, the coins' designer said, "What better thing than a tree, to portray the wealth of our country?"
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Pine Tree Shilling
The Building of America
When the explorers first discovered the Americas, the vast virgin forests must have seemed an inexhaustible resource. The Longleaf Pine, (Pinus Palustris) was found throughout the fertile southern regions of North America. These stately groves of Longleaf Pine covered ninety million acres. The Longleaf Pine is an extremely slow growing conifer that can live 500 years and requires at least 200 years to become mostly heart wood. The species was soon prized by early settlers and traders for many unique qualities and over the next few centuries was relentlessly logged and utilized throughout both the New and Old Worlds.
The Timeless Qualities of Heart Pine
Highly prized for its beauty, density, strength, durability, as well as, its natural resistance to insects and rot, Longleaf Heart Pine is similar to red oak in its strength. The growth of the tree is so slow, that it can take 30 years to add a single inch to the girth of the tree trunk, resulting in extremely tight growth rings.
Each year produces a light and dark band that together, give the luminous vertical ribbon striping, so desired by discriminating designers, architects and their clients. The dramatic arching pattern results from the milling process and adds the exciting rhythm and movement to the grain that has driven the desirability of the wood since our founding fathers chose its fine qualities for such historic structures as George Washington’s, Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson’s, Monticello.
The grain colors range from deep, rich burgundy to warm and sunny creams. An additional desirable characteristic of Antique Heart Pine, is that it actually acquires more beauty and depth of color as it ages; patina.
Survivors
Sadly, the slow life span of the magnificent Longleaf Pine made it an unpopular species for replanting after the virgin forests were logged. It was a simple matter of economics; other species could be planted and harvested sooner than the stately pine.
Less than three million acres of first growth Longleaf Pine survived the logging boom of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Thankfully, most of these old groves are currently protected from logging.
However, there is logging of younger groves (between 75 -90 years old) occurring at this time. These relatively young trees have not reached the maturity to produce the generous heart wood indicative of trees older than 200 years of age at harvest. The young trees are often marketed with the confusing label: “Old Growth”, but are considered “New Heart Pine” by most wood specialists.
Heart Pine Reserve has chosen a a different approach to supplying antique heart pine wood to the fine-building marketplace and does not participate in the logging of live trees.
Learn more about our reclamation team's current project by clicking here -
