No Longer Yours:
Aspects of Slavery and Freedom Seeking in North Carolina

Wood-Coastal

What does a log framed building, a piece of iron, a hearth used for cooking, and a ship all have in common? The answer is wood. Wood played an important role in either the manufacture, production, or creation of all the previously listed objects. Yet today, we have sorely forgotten how important wood was and is to almost every form of life in North Carolina. A snapshot of wood’s importance can be viewed by highlighting the natural elements through two distinct professions and on two distinct landscapes, namely the production of NAVAL STORES and IRON FURNANCE PLANTATIONS. Both vignettes show how wood was used and how its harvest, production, and use fueled economy, furthered the practice of slavery, and at times helped create beautiful furniture and ornate objects.

Consider that most materials, goods, tools, and some clothing consisted of wood. This idea, compounded with the thoughts of tenuous labor, sparked curiosity in understanding the immense connection between wood, African Americans, and the North Carolinian landscape. Imagine that you are an enslaved person enslaved on the coast of North Carolina. Every day you wake up and take with you an axe and a large box to begin the task of collecting turpentine, pitch, and tar. While this seems like a reminiscent story of labor and forced work, it is also the story of a community forged from wood. It is unquestionable that the smell of wood burning and the abrupt yet piercing sounds of an axe cutting splicing wood while for some in foreign places and perhaps under the watchful eye of an overseer create a vivid depiction of not only wood but also the pressure of securing it.

Landscape Matters

Understanding African American history and its connection to the history of North Carolina requires an in-depth exploration into the natural landscape in order to make the tangible connection between wood, African American history, and the state of North Carolina. Perhaps the beginning of this narrative of natural resources begins with Long Leaf Pine Forest. A vital element in the cultural and natural history of North Carolina, at one point, Long Leaf Pine spanned from the state of Texas to the State of Virginia, which encompasses approximately 90 million acres. To see a map of the historic Long Leaf Pine Forest, CLICK HERE. In North Carolina, Long Leaf Pine covered most of the coastal plains and the lower piedmont regions. For enslaved persons newly minted into a life of toil, one can imagine their viewpoint as they stood before towering Long Leaf Pine in a completely new natural environment. 

Early settlers to the area who intended to benefit from the naval store industry comprised Pennsylvanian and Delawarean Welsch communities. The operation of harvesting turpentine from trees consisted almost entirely of products consisting of or made entirely from wood. For example, enslaved people would use a wooden axe to cut into a tree. Thereafter, that enslaved person would use a wooden box to collect the natural resources that seeped from the tree. Subsequently, the raw materials were transported in large abundance, possibly by wooden wagons to the port or railway to be shipped or carried. In either instance, a wooden ship or a freight car made of wood transported the goods. In essence, wood was an ingrained feature of survival for early North Carolina colonial life from an economic, agricultural, and labor perspective. 
 

This page has paths: