Sunken Treasure: A Florida couple mill beautiful lumber out of logs they salvage from the South's river bottoms

Fortune Small Business, December 2005—January 2006

Great business ideas often come from strange places, but no one expects to find one at the bottom of a river. Yet that's what happened to George Goodwin. When he went fishing in shallow Florida riverbeds during the early 1970s, Goodwin often caught more logs than bass. "I used to snag my lures on them," he remembers. Most fishermen would have cursed their luck; Goodwin, now 59, reeled in a multi-million-dollar business instead. MORE>

Back to the Future: River-reclaimed heart pine spruces up new homes

First Coast Lifestyle, October 2003

Three centuries ago, longleaf pine forests covered 90 million acres in the Southeast, stretching from Florida north to Virginia and west to Texas. Living as long as 500 years, the immense trees grew four to five feet in diameter and 180 feet tall. MORE>

Saving Waterlogged Timber

New Product Ideas, December 2001

Logs long consigned to river bottoms are now being brought to the surface. After drying out in the sun, they are kiln-dried, cut and finished as flooring. “Recycled or reclaimed hardwood floors can lend a true, down-home feeling to virtually any room,” says David Williams, president of the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA). MORE>

Noble Savage

Residential Architect, June 2001

When Minneapolis-based SALA Architects set out to design the 1999 Life Dream House, the architects needed a material that could balance architectural aesthetics and environmental sustainability. Their solution? Handsome millwork—made not of run-of-the-mill lumber but of timber recovered from the bottom of Lake Superior. MORE>

Sunken Treasure

Water’s Edge February/March 2001

In a world of look-alike architecture and formulaic interiors, custom builders and owners are creating one-of-a-kind homes while giving new life to long-forgotten wood. Read more about two companies that specialize in reviving original-growth timbers used for flooring, furniture and stairparts. MORE>

Old and Under Foot, A Buyer’s Guide to Rescued Wood Flooring

Old-House Journal, January/February 2001

Antique wood has long been the choice of restorationists in repairing floors or building additions. Now reclaimed or recovered lumber has growing environmental cachet. Outlets of rescued timber—retail and wholesale—have mushroomed: One dealer estimates that they’ve increased 10-fold in the past 15 years. MORE>

The Dream

Excerpted from Country Home, January-February 2001

Lisa and Morris Adjimi agreed that what their cottage on Lake Oscawana in New York needed was a simple, traditional remodeling. They had a really clear vision about what to do with the home. Wanting it to fit into the area and not to stand out, the challenge was to strike a balance between past and present. MORE>

This Old House, 27 Stories High, The magazine builds a working home

This Old House, May 1998

Think of a gigantic concrete box suspended more than 300 feet in the air above New York City . The box—134 feet long, 170 feet wide, and 12 feet high with windows all around—is empty except for two bathrooms and four elevators in the middle. No dividing walls, no fixtures, no furniture, no personality—a space so raw it stultifies the imagination. Now try to think of the box as home. MORE>

Log Me a River

Atlantic Monthly, November 1996

As old-growth longleaf pine becomes scarce, thousands of valuable logs are being raised from riverbeds where they have lain for close to a century.

The asphalt road that leads north to the board launch could be a black hose laid down across a gargantuan lawn. MORE>

Salvaging Antique Lumber

This Old House, May/June 1995

Would you look for lumber at the bottom of a river? If you needed choice wood for flooring or a cabinet front, would you don scuba gear? That’s what George and Carol Goodwin and their crew do. MORE>

A Phoenix Rises in Montauk

Rebuilding the Historic House of Dick Cavett and Carrie Nye

Goodwin Heart Pine Company was chosen to supply the wood that rebuilt one of the classic Long Island getaways, owned by Dick Cavett and his wife, Carrie Nye. Nearly four years ago, when the Montauk Point home, Tick Hall, went up in flames, Cavett and Nye decided to rebuild the timeless masterpiece from scratch. MORE>

Our Favorite Shops Across the South

Southern Living

Tag along with the Southern Living Editors as they share some of their favorite places to shop in the Southern region, including Goodwin Heart Pine Company. The criteria: shops that feature distinctive accessories with style and a Southern accent. MORE>

Couple's Sawmill Cuts Up Old Logs For Premium Products

The Tampa Tribune, Jim Tunstall, October 19, 2003

FLOORING, FURNITURE MADE FROM LUMBER

MICANOPY - George Goodwin drives this town's ultimate muscle machine. His McDonough band saw has the power of 100 horses, a laser-guided cutting sight and a 7-inch-wide, 30-foot-long blade. It also boasts a sound-resistant cabin, air conditioning, tinted windows, a CD player and a cushy captain's chair. "The old one was a lot more physical" to use, Goodwin says, mouthing a silent "whooo-eee." MORE>

19th Century Timber in a 21st Century Home

The Montauk Sun, June 2003 by Kathy Fleming

When Dick Cavett and Carrie Nye's century-old residence in Montauk burned completely to the ground in 1999, it would have been the end of an era for most people.

Full if irreplaceable, beloved belongings they had gathered over a lifetime and placed carefully throughout a home built with now rare materials, the couple could have started over again in any style they preferred. MORE>

Sunken Treasures: River-log divers put "sinkers" on the road to success

The Times-Union, By Susan P. Respess, Saturday, July 31, 1999

SUWANNEE RIVER-Early afternoon sun bakes the bar shoulders of Kirk Sadler as he steers the homemade pontoon boat to the shade of cypress and oak trees lining the bank.

His boss, Fred Tatman, is overboard, but the 17-year-old isn't worried because it happens frequently in the Suwannee River and in Georgia rivers they've traveled. MORE>

Water logged; Virgin longleaf pine wood is a pricey commodity. Some suppliers are risking arrest to pull "deadheads" off river bottoms,

The Tampa Tribune, by Jim Tunstall, March 7, 1997

They're called "deadheads" or "sinkers."

They're just about all that's left of what once was our seemingly endless supply of virgin longleaf pine, commonly known as heart pine. While supplies last, folks pay plenty for floors, staircases and furniture made from them.

George Goodwin knows. MORE>

Diving for abandoned treasure

U.S. News & World Report, May 30, 1994

The last of the old-growth cypress and pine that covered the South was logged off a half century ago; the last old-growth Douglas fir of the Northwest is now about to be cut down, too -- or set aside for the spotted owl. MORE>

Heart Pine Floors

Northern California Home and Garden, July/August 1993

Architects, designers and homeowners around California are reaching out across the country to retrieve a bit of Early American heritage southern longleaf pine, commonly known as heart pine. From muddy river bottoms and homes built in the mid-1800s that are now slated for demolition, heart pine, prized for its lasting hardness and outstanding beauty, is being salvaged and reclaimed for reuse in environmentally and aesthetically conscious homes of today. MORE>

Heart of The Matter

Southern Living magazine, by Lynn Nesmith

When Cheryl Smith was in the market for a house in Tampa, location wasn't an issue. "I knew I wanted to live in Hyde Park," she says without hesitation. "It's a friendly, established neighborhood with lots of trees, and it's close to downtown." MORE>

Also featured in:

Kitchen Trends
Volume 18, No. 5

Kitchens can be elevated beyond the practical and become an important part of the overall interior scheme, as seen in this extraordinary kitchen. Goodwin heart pine was used throughout the kitchen and sitting areas.

House Beautiful Home Building
Autumn 2003

Goodwin Heart Pine products were featured as a smart flooring option that is both attractive and environmentally friendly. “Flooring made of used wood, still something of a novelty a decade ago, is being installed in more and more homes as people respond to the antique beauty of its timeworn patina.”

Architectural Digest
July 2003

Goodwin pecky cypress was used throughout the library of this exquisite but understated home. The library functions both as a library and sitting room for the master bedroom upstairs and is said to have the stature f Delano & Aldrich.

Florida Design
Volume 11, No. 1

This Key West home has kick-your-shoes-off livability and features wood throughout, including Goodwin wood in the den. The designer was able to maintain the home’s historic character which instilling a casual elegance.

Tampa Tribune
October 19, 2003

This article tells the story of Goodwin Heart Pine’s 25 years in business and the new expansion, which includes tripling the showroom size and planning a new line of furniture.