Ever wonder about those really, really, wide pine floors we find
in our New England homes? They have a very interesting history
in our country. Interestingly, enough they may have been just as
influential in the American Revolution as the Boston Tea Party!
The British fell in love with the white Pine species of trees
for their usefulness as light, strong and exceedingly tall masts
of sailing ships, & the British Navy. They were considered so
valuable that the “Kings men” (militia) went through the virgin
New England forests marking the most desirable trees (widest &
tallest) to be saved for shipment to the British Monarch. Three
hatchet marks in the shape of an arrow was called "The Kings
Broad Arrow". These trees (24 inches or more in diameter) were
so important that they were mentioned in The Charter of
Massachusetts Bay 1691. Predictably over time, the colonists
became less and less willing to surrender the resources of the
colonies to the British Monarch. They began ignoring the Kings
Mark and harvesting