. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Collecting turpentine from a notched tree you can practically see the Rich Lands as it was 150 years ago: the fine manor house, the slave quarters, the distilleries, the picnics at Alum Spring and the great piney woods itself. No aspect of Rich Lands life or turpentining seems to escape him. Yet Avirett does not tell all. I discovered that behind The Old Planta- tion is an untold saga, a mystery far more intriguing than the book itself. In reality, Avirett's flattering portrait of the Rich Lands conceals a
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Collecting turpentine from a notched tree you can practically see the Rich Lands as it was 150 years ago: the fine manor house, the slave quarters, the distilleries, the picnics at Alum Spring and the great piney woods itself. No aspect of Rich Lands life or turpentining seems to escape him. Yet Avirett does not tell all. I discovered that behind The Old Planta- tion is an untold saga, a mystery far more intriguing than the book itself. In reality, Avirett's flattering portrait of the Rich Lands conceals a stunning tale of ecological ruin and personal tragedy. It is a story of nostalgia and deceit that goes to the heart of how we remember the Old South today. The longleaf pine, Palus palustris, once defined the American South as distinctively as the tall-grass prairie set apart the Great Plains. The longleaf forest covered 130 million acres in a 100-mile swath from Tidewater Virginia to East Texas. Carolina colonists distilled the longleaf s crude sap (turpentine) into "spirits of turpentine" and rosin, and they produced tar and pitch by smoldering longleaf wood in earthen kilns. These products were known as naval stores because they played a critical role in caulking ships and preserving hemp lines. By 1840, North Carolina produced 96 percent of the turpentine, tar and rosin in the United States. The vast majority came from 12 coastal counties, including Onslow. Wilmington exported more naval stores than any other port in the world. After prices rose steeply with the removal of British duties on turpentine in 1846, Wilmington doubled in population and became the state's largest city. New uses for turpentine as a solvent, paint ingredient and illuminant raised the naval stores industry to even greater heights. The number of Wilmington distilleries skyrocketed from two in 1841 to more than 20 in 1852, from one in Fayetteville to 32. Naval stores became the third mo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
