North Carolina is the Tar Heel State for a reason, says Lisa Whitman Grice, director of the Onslow County Museum in Richlands. The state, and specifically Eastern North Carolina, was the center of harvesting tar, pitch and turpentine for naval stores.
The abundance of long leaf pines in Onslow County, as well as the health soil and waterways, is what attracted colonists to the area. Dependent on slave labor, harvesting long leaf pine was big business in the state's early history.
But following the Civil War, that business began waning, as stands of trees began disappearing due to over-harvesting and poor forest management.
Today, efforts are ongoing to restore the long leaf pine in North Carolina. One of the lessons is that the tree is dependent on fire for healthy growth.
