The Lost Towering Pine Forests of St. Lucie

Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch

1 month ago

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.

“Towering pines near Stuart, the Hearste Track. Mills start cutting soon.” Florida Photographic Concern, ca. 1923, courtesy of Bette J. Tootsie Kindberg.

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.

“In Johnston & McNeil’s pine forest of one hundred and thirty square miles of fine trees, near Stuart, Fla. Others own still larger adjoining holdings, amount them being the Southern States Land & Timber Company.” The remarkable photographs in this post were taken by Florida Photographic Concern, of Ft. Pierce, Florida ca. 1923. They were shared courtesy of Mrs. Bette J. Tootsie Kindberg a friend of my mothers. These photographs were among many included in planning and selling the idea of Stuart’s Deepwater Harbor that I wrote of in my last blog post.

“Some of the seven thousand barrels of resin at Johnston & McNeil’s turpentine camp, sixteen miles south of Stuart, near the great St. Lucie Control Canal .”

“Another view of Johnston & McNeil’s resin, at camp near Stuart, Fla.”

“Johnston… “ These virgin slash pine forests were under storied by palmetto and wire grass creating a wildlife sanctuary of food and protection.

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.

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