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HEARTPINE
By Ad Platt, The Longleaf Alliance
A WELL-TRAVELED TREE
Cross-section on display at the T.R. Miller Mill Company office in Brewton, Alabama, of a tree born in 1658 where it lived and grew until harvested in 1958. Its square timber was exported to Holland and manufactured into moulding and paneling for railroad dining cars.
O
ur inherent busyness slows when we encounter ancient things, at least for a moment. Big old trees reach through the veil and rekindle our sense of wonder, and we react with awe and reflection. We ponder, if these trees could talk, what has this silent sentinel borne witness to over the centuries? In the lobby of the T.R. Miller Mill Company office in Brewton, Alabama, is a display of a cross-section of a virgin longleaf, displayed to honor and tell the story of a very welltraveled tree. While this tree never moved, history swirled all around it. During its 300-year lifespan, not terribly old for a
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longleaf, it was resident in the territory of at least six nations (Muscogee Creek, Spain, France, England, U.S.A., C.S.A. (the Confederacy), and then again U.S.A.), shifting between four states (Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama), and three counties (Washington in Mississippi, Monroe and Conecuh in Alabama). After it was felled in 1958, the resulting timber traveled to Amsterdam, Holland and was manufactured into moulding and paneling for railway dining cars. Knowing the durability of heart pine, it was most likely remanufactured and put to other uses – perhaps traveling still, though the trail is lost beyond this point. This “journey” of a single tree is a glimpse into our cultural Volume XV - Issue 2
