Gigantic old-growth slash pines, with all the glory to be called “longleaf pine,” stood right here in the St. Lucie River region of Stuart, Palm, City, Indiantown, Jensen, and Hobe Sound. Eagles built massive nests in their crowns. Fox squirrels as large as cats leapt through their branches. Black bears stopped to scratch their backs against wide and furrowed bark. Stealthy panthers and long-legged bobcats silently crept over pine needles in search of turkeys, deer, and wild hog. The endless knocking of the red-cockaded woodpecker echoed throughout until humankind’s insatiable demand for lumber and turpentine brought these forests down.
My mother, historian Sandra Thurlow, recently has been amazed by her friend Tootsie’s Facebook pictures! I am sharing more today. In her research, mom also found a column of the late Ernie Lyons, award winning Stuart News editor and writer from 1931-1975. His words pulled from the dust give new life to what once was all around us-something once so wonderful that we don’t even know existed anymore – the great pine forests. As a certified tree hugger, with a tear in my eye, I share Tootsie’s local historic Hill photos together with mom’s discovery of Ernie Lyon’s column. Together they tell the story of our lost forests, a story we must never forget.
According to “The Atlas of Florida,” 1992: “Pines, especially long leaf and slash, accounted for three-fourths of the state’s original 25-30 million acres of forests.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of talking to Tom Weber, retired Editor and President of Scripps Treasure Coast Publishing Company. We were attending a celebration of Jim Overton’s 90th birthday at the Stuart Heritage Museum. We discussed how Jim was Scripps’s business manager when the US 1 property that is now the location of the Martin County School Board was purchased. Tom said there were two pine trees on the property when The News building was constructed. With a smile, he said he recently saw that they were still standing. His former boss, Ernie Lyons, who have smiled too.
That is such a wonderful thing! I will look for them! Thank you.
Thanks so much for taking us back in time to that beautiful Florida forest and all she held and protected. Was a real treat. 💚
Thank you. My greatest pleasure!
Thank you. Great stuff as always. Spent alot of time in what was left of trees or forested areas playing or fighting brush fires. All good memories and thanks for rekindling them. Scott P.
Thank you Scott for the message and for the fires so necessary for the health of the pine 🌲 forests.
Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong time of history. To have missed this:
According to “The Atlas of Florida,” 1992: “Pines, especially long leaf and slash, accounted for three-fourths of the state’s original 25-30 million acres of forests.
Jacqui, thank you again for the 100 Year Anniversary brochure!
You are so very welcome! And I too feel out of place in our over developed times.
Beautiful writing about a time in the past that Mother Nature was left alone to do her magic. Those big ol pines musta been magical. Thanks for sharing your own and your Mom’s passion Jacqui.
Signed
A bona-fide tree hugger
🌳from one tree hugger to another-thank you!
There are still some monster pines left in Salerno east of Dixie. I believe they are the densa variety. Shorter and fatter.
Thank you for this. I have noticed some really tall ones when driving but I never looked too long!
I live across from seabranch preserve . There use to be a long leaf pine forest across from my neighborhood but the state cut most of this part down a few years ago . I was sad . Used to see turkeys , eagles , bobcats … now there’s not much of anything . Not to mention the gopher tortoise that they killed doing it . Use to be lots of them even in my yard . Haven’t seen one in years . It’s time for me to move before the rest of the area becomes a concrete jungle .
I would so have loved to see that long leaf pine! I just don’t get it when people destroy this beauty…
Thank you for this essay and the photos that make you weep for what’s been lost (along with so much else!). I don’t know why Floridians were and still are so intent on squeezing out most of what’s lovely in the state and replacing it with our plastic culture. Maybe because they can. Floridians didn’t and don’t have enough foresight or fortitude to regulate what may and shouldn’t be done (and didn’t understand the Everglades system soon enough to preserve it properly). If you aren’t determined to save it, it will vanish. And still Florida advertises in the northern press to Visit Sunny Florida!!! I always did admire Ernie Lyons and his appreciation of the wild. Looking at your photos from the air, I’m astonished at how many little houses have been squeezed into neighborhoods where there was empty land when I lived there in 1947-62. I can’t even find on a map the exquisite little wild creek where my friend Charlie and I fished once. Maybe it’s just a buried pipe now? Your fight to save the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers, the manatees and the mangroves, with your stunning photos and documents is admirable. I never knew how complex the canal system is with its problems and possible solutions. Thanks for enlightening us.
In my opinion we can’t blame Floridians for the destruction. It’s the transplants/developers that come here that over develop to make money.
This is true… and they are often connected….
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Thank you for sharing and spreading awareness! I live near Azimuth Avenue in Port Salerno, where we have a few tall pine trees in our neighborhood (although I am uncertain if they are of the same species). I have always admired their majestic beauty and appreciated the diverse wildlife they attract. Each year, we were privileged to witness great horned owls nesting in the pines and had the delight of observing their adorable babies grow. Regrettably, a substantial development of townhomes was constructed on the street. In order to create space for parking and a retention pond, a couple of the tall pines were regrettably cut down, including one that the owls typically used for nesting. To our great disappointment, it has been a few years now and the owls have not returned to nest in our area. I’m hopeful that one day they will return to one of the few pines left on the street.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Thank you for sharing and spreading awareness! I live near Azimuth Avenue in Port Salerno, where we have a few tall pine trees in our neighborhood (although I am uncertain if they are of the same species). I have always admired their majestic beauty and appreciated the diverse wildlife they attract. Each year, we were privileged to witness great horned owls nesting in the pines and had the delight of observing their adorable babies grow. Regrettably, a substantial development of townhomes was constructed on the street. In order to create space for parking and a retention pond, a couple of the tall pines were regrettably cut down, including one that the owls typically used for nesting. To our great disappointment, it has been a few years now and the owls have not returned to nest in our area. I’m hopeful that one day they will return to one of the few pines left on the street.
Thank you. The wildlife is such any inspiration and such a heart break when the lose their habitat. I will be thinking of you and your owls Christina.
Jacqui – This quote is from my timeline of the drainage canals, Department of the Interior. The digging of the St. Lucie Canal “As World War
One began and oil became scarce because of the war effort, the
dredges were converted to wood burners and logging crews nearly
deforested central Martin County finding fuel for the machines.
Bowers-Southern went bankrupt and the canal’s construction again lurched onward, dependent upon funding supplied by the Board of
the Everglades Drainage District and their business of land
speculation. In times of land booms and fervid speculation, the
State had the funds to proceed with drainage and reclamation,
opening more land to developers and investors.” -Todd T.
This is amazing… Wow. thanks.
Thank you. Just want you to know your work is appreciated, and your mom’s too. The popular novel, “The Boys in the Boat” tells of the remarkable fragrance and mold-a-bility? of Washington state’s red cedar trees. Please keep writing. No need to reply
We saw the movie – I know the book is even better. Can’t wait to read about those red cedars. 🙂