What were the naval stores in North Carolina?

What were the naval stores in North Carolina?

Here in North Carolina, naval stores meant turpentine, tar, pitch and rosin. Produced from longleaf pine forests, they gave North Carolina its nickname, “The Tar Heel State.”

Where did naval stores originate?

The naval stores industry in North America originated in the mid-eighteenth century in North Carolina. Before 1800 the major products of the trade were raw gum, pitch, and tar. After the American Revolution (1775-83), processes were developed for distilling spirits of turpentine from gum.

Where was the highest concentration of naval stores?

Great Britain even offered a bounty for naval stores, encouraging the growth of the industry. With a multitude of longleaf pines, the Cape Fear Valley, especially the region made up of present-day Harnett and Cumberland Counties, was the location of most naval stores production.

What were naval stores used for?

naval stores, products such as tar, pitch, turpentine, pine oil, rosin, and terpenes obtained from the pine and other coniferous trees, and originally used in maintaining wooden sailing ships.

What two products did North Carolina provide for the British navy?

The importance of tar, pitch, and turpentine production is evidenced by the extremely high export levels. North Carolina produced and shipped nearly half of the colonial production of these naval stores to England from the early eighteenth century until the Revolutionary War (Lee 1952).

Which colonies produced naval stores?

In the early nineteenth century the southern states, especially the Carolina “tarheels,” began to dominate the industry. Naval store production continued in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida.

Why did production of naval stores decrease?

Because of a shortage of workers willing to perform the heavy manual labor involved in the streaking of many acres of trees and in collecting the resin tree by tree as well, the gum naval stores industry entered a period of steep decline beginning in the 1960s.

What naval stores mean?

Definition of naval stores : products (such as turpentine, pitch, and rosin) obtained from resinous conifers and especially pines.

What are naval stores called?

These products or “stores” are turpentine, rosin, tar and pitch. At the time of the American Revolution, much of the southeastern coast of North America was covered with longleaf pine forests. The gum- like RESIN of these trees was called CRUDE TURPENTINE.

What was pine pitch used for?

Only pine stumps and roots are used in the traditional production of pine tar. Pine tar has a long history as a wood preservative, as a wood sealant for maritime use, in roofing construction and maintenance, in soaps, and in the treatment of carbuncles and skin diseases, such as psoriasis, eczema, and rosacea.

Which colonial region produced ships and naval supplies?

the New England Colonies
The shipbuilding industry was extremely important, especially to the New England Colonies in Colonial Times. The first ships were built for fishing, but trade was also conducted by water, which eventually led to the real demand in shipbuilding.

Why is pine tar on bats illegal?

But why is it illegal above 18 inches from the knob? When the stickiness of the bat from the pine tar comes in contact with the ball, the result can be an extra backspin on the ball. A spinning ball may likely be foul.

What happened to North Carolina’s naval stores?

As a result of the Civil War (1861-1865), technological innovation, and exhausted raw materials, the prosperity of the naval stores industry in North Carolina came to a dramatic end. Once the Confederacy ended trade with the Union, Northern shippers looked elsewhere for naval stores.

Where did North Carolina’s Long Leaf Pine come from?

Image courtesy of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, Raleigh, NC. In the Coastal Plain region of North Carolina, Long Leaf Pines were plentiful, and the resin extracted from the trees provided the raw material for the naval stores industry.

What trees were used in the North Carolina colony?

In the Coastal Plain region of North Carolina, Long Leaf Pines were plentiful, and the resin extracted from the trees provided the raw material for the naval stores industry. Tar kept ropes and sail rigging from decaying, and pitch on a boat’s sides and bottom prevented leaking.

How big was the Tar Heel industry in North Carolina in 1850?

Statistics from the mid-1800s reveals the importance of the industry in Tar Heel history. In 1850, North Carolina listed 444 tar and turpentine makers in the US Census, and 1, 114 distillers were listed in state records. Wilmington led the state with the largest number of turpentine distillers, and New Bern and Washington closely followed.