The majority of forests that exist in the Southeast today offer little to stimulate the imagination and provide a scant connection to the heritage of the landscape. However, character is what sets apart old-growth longleaf pine forests from the young, neatly planted forests that predominate today's Southern landscape. The crowns of these longleaf patriarchs have long ago stopped growing in height and flattened out; seeming to suggest that somewhere along the line, these trees have acknowledged that there is not an advantage to being the tallest tree in an environment dominated by lightning. Also, perhaps recognizing their own uniqueness, or as a testimony to their stubbornness, old (large diameter) longleaf may subtly lean to one side but refuse to concede to the forces of gravity.

Each tree has a story to tell. The gnarled longleaf pines on the steep slopes of Choccolocco Mountain, AL stretch out of the rocky ground like long arthritic fingers; bearing witness to the infrequent (yet historic) icestorms of the area. Unhealed notches (boxes) cut into the bases of large longleaf in the sandhills of Southern Pines, NC remind us of an industry responsible for giving that state the nickname of Tarheel. Ancient longleaf outside of Niceview, FL have seen the demise of socially complex Native American cultures and the sequestering and transfer of same piece of land by the Spanish, French, English and finally Americans. Veteran longleaf near Withlacoochee FL smothering under an unhealthy buildup of forest litter testify to a battle lost between those whose understood the value of fire for forest vigor and those who wanted to see it extinguished. Perhaps there is even a tree or two in the Altamaha Basin that carries metal from the frequent skirmishes between Georgia militia and British rangers fighting for territorial rights during the Revolutionary War.

A great deal has changed in the southern states over the last 500 years and each of these ancient longleaf forests stand as a living legacy to those destructive forces that devastated all but a handful of virgin forests. A survey done by a Florida researcher in 1996 found that less then 0.01% of the remaining longleaf pine forests would be considered old-growth. Those stands that remain are important scientifically because they serve as a benchmark for forest structure conditions that likely existed prior to European settlement. These stands represent a genetic journey that started several thousand years ago with the marriage of a flicker of flame and a pine seed. Many of these virgin longleaf forests offer a refuge for plants and animals that are otherwise rare across the Southeast. Culturally, these stands serve as a link to our southern heritage (with countless cultures having risen and fallen during the tenure of longleaf).

The emotion of standing in an ancient grove of longleaf pine can perhaps best be described as spiritual. Wind stirring through the tops of the 350 year old trees, the perfume of pine resin, the sounds of birds scurrying about through a lush carpet of grass cause the visitor to draw in a breath of awe and suggest that something this magnificent was surely not created by accident. With so little longleaf remaining, these ancient groves of longleaf pine forest are important because they are a snapshot of a forest that was once so vast that it was thought to be inexhaustible and serve as a reminder to what exactly has been lost. Perhaps these groves are important simply because they are survivors.

The following is not an exhaustive list of remaining old-growth longleaf pine stands, but it certainly represents the more known stands. As we continue to do this, hopefully, we'll be able to rediscover a few more groves of ancient longleaf pine.

Alabama

Flomaton Natural Area (Escambia Co.)

Old Fort McClellan (Calhoun Co.)

Florida

Big Pine Tract (Hernando Co.)

Eglin Air Force Base (Okaloosa Co.)

Georgia

Greenwood Plantation (Thomas Co.)

Moody Tract (Appling Co.)

Wade Tract (Thomas Co.)

Thomasville Plantations (Thomas Co.)

North Carolina

Bonnie Doone Tract (Cumberland Co.)

Boyd Tract (Moore Co.)

Camp Lejeune Tract (Onslow Co.)

Croatan Ridge (Craven Co.)