You will find, in the Ballyhack Preserve, Connecticut's second tallest tree (143 foot, 31 inch diameter). Most of these old large trees are white pine but the hemlocks can be 200 years old as well and almost as tall.
In 1969, The Nature Conservancy acquired this 55-acre property and transferred it to the Cornwall Conservation trust in 2005. It was originally called the Woolsey Pines. In 1989 a tornado destroyed a major part of the Cathedral Pines just a few miles south of Ballyhack. The majority of the giant old growth and secondary old growth are now present on the Ballyhack property.
This information is from the book Ancient Forests of the Northeast.
The Eastern White Pine has the distinction of being the tallest tree in eastern North America. White pine forests originally covered much of northeastern North America, though only one percent of the original trees remain untouched by extensive logging operations in the 1700s and 1800s.
During the age of sailing, the tall trees with their high quality wood were valued for masts, and many trees were marked in colonial times with the broad arrow, reserving them for the British Royal Navy. The wood was often squared immediately after felling to fit in the holds of ships.
The British soon built special barge-like vessels which could carry up to 50 pine trunks destined to be ship masts. A 100’ mast was about 3’X3’ at the butt and 2’X2’ at the top, while a 120’ mast was a giant 4’X4’ at the bottom and 30” at the top. The original masts on the US Constitution (Old Ironsides) were single trees but later they were laminated to better withstand cannon balls. During the American Revolution it became a great sport for the patriots to see how many of the King’s trees one could cut down and haul off (Nizalowski, 1997; Sloane, 1965).
White Pine needles contain five times the amount of Vitamin C (by weight) of lemons and make an excellent tisane. The cambium is edible. It is also a source of resveratrol. Caterpillars of Lusk's Pinemoth (Coloradia luski) have been found to feed only on Eastern White Pines.
The name “Adirondack” is an Iroquois word which means tree-eater and referred to their neighbors (more commonly known as the Algonquians) who collected the inner bark during times of winter starvation. The white soft inner bark (cambial layer) was carefully separated from the hard, dark brown bark and dried. When pounded this product can be used as flour or added to stretch other starchy products. Linnaeus noted in the 1700’s that cattle and pigs fed pine bark bread grew well but he personally did not like the taste. The young staminate cones were stewed by the Ojibwe Indians with meat and were said to be sweet and not pitchy. In addition, the seeds are sweet and nutritious but not as good as those of some of the western nut pines (Fernald, 1943).
Pine resin has been used to waterproof baskets, pails and boats and the sap can be processed to make turpentine. In addition, the sap apparently has a number of quite efficient antimicrobials. The Chippewa even used it successfully to treat gangrenous wounds. Generally a wet pulp from the inner bark is applied to the wounds or pine tar can be mixed with beeswax or butter and used as a salve to prevent infection. Pine tar mixed with beer can be used to remove tapeworms (flat worms) or nematodes (round worms) and pine tar mixed with sulfur is useful to treat dandruff. Pine tar is produced by slowly burning pine roots, branches, or small trunks in a partially smothered flame (Erichsen-Brown, 1979).
From Wikipedia
