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History of Heart Cypress
Heart cypress, from the Bald Cypress tree, is truly a primitive
American wood. Bald Cypress trees can grow more than a thousand
years old and tower to heights of more than a 100 feet. Once
commonly found in virgin stands along rivers and tidewater
swamplands of the southeastern coastal plain, the finest cypress
grew where the land was submerged most of the year. Cypress
logs estimated by scientists to be at least 100,000 years
old were unearthed in excavations for the Mayflower Hotel
in Washington, D.C.
Heart cypress was logged right along with the
longleaf heart pine in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
though the forests were not clear-cut like the heart pine.
Loggers cut around the circumference of the tree a year in
advance of logging to allow the wood to lose part of its moisture
so the logs would float. Because there was only about 2000
miles of railroad in the South by1850, loggers would hand
cut the heart cypress trees and drag them by oxen or mule
teams to the riverbanks. There they would lash the logs together
and float the raft to downstream sawmills.
Today the silvery trunks and fernlike leaves of the Bald
Cypress still grace southern riverbanks. Some are 100 years
old or more left from the previous century’s logging.
Others still stand, dead but showing
where they were marked and cut, but never brought down.
Unfortunately, the wood from young cypress trees does
not compare to the rich-toned heartwood of original-growth
heart cypress.
Through centuries of adaptation, Bald Cypress has developed
an inherent resistance to destructive forces, including
water and insects, not found in other woods. A favorite
building material of Frank Lloyd Wright, heart cypress
is a natural building material for flooring, furniture,
exterior walls and many other special projects.
Characteristics of Heart Cypress
Honey tones: rich red tans to light chocolates
- Beauty: uniquely fine grain often provides a feathery
pattern
- Durability: can be used as interior or exterior wood
- Rarity: 100% heart cypress is more rare today than
heart pine
Please see the Heart
Pine Forest Game.
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