Pre-1850 Home Wood
Early American houses
Pre-1850 homes, before and after the American Revolution, were built with local Old Growth trees. They were very big and beautiful trees that awed colonists, before they sawed them.
Some of this remarkable wood was 200+ years old when it was cut…200+ years ago!
Our Stock:
Foot-worn Flooring (Oak, Chestnut)
-Up to 20″ wide and 18′ long
Hand-hewn Beams (Red Oak, Pine, Cherry)
-Up to 22″ wide and 36′ feet long
Water- & Pit-sawn Joists (Red Pine, White Pine)
-Up to 18′ x 14″ x 4″
Pre-1850 Homes & Footworn Floors
Look inside a colonial American home (be it English, Dutch or German) to learn what a tree was like then. Two foot wide boards are common, and the range of species can be wide, too. Colonists used what they cleared to create various house and barn elements.
Got wide planks? We stock and source foot worn flooring from the 18th and 19th centuries. Seen here, past the colonial attic view, is Heart Pine that keeps resisting time and treading. It’s seen here flat sawn and displays knots, some vertical grain and nice figuring.
Pumpkin Pine and White Oak
Eastern White Pine, or ‘King’s Pine’ for the throne’s demand of it, has a bonus. It offers Pumpkin Pine from the heartwood or by a decades-long process in straw. We have some.
White Oak Floor Boards
Beyond that is classic, tight grained, White Oak flooring from a pre-1850 home. We sell both red and white oak, new and reclaimed, to satisfy a range of designers.
White Oak was milled in at least two ways: quarter sawn or flat sawn. The former gave clear, straight grain and the latter presented more grain dynamics and knots. Quarter sawn oak was for parlors and public rooms vs. flat sawn for the upper rooms.
Rare Cherry and Chestnut
Did George Washington cut down a cherry tree to make a point or make a table? Both? Very few mills stock reclaimed cherry wood with it’s warm tones and complex grain. Cherry trees grew big once and the wood they offered was cherished as much as the fruit.
And few mills have what’s next: American Chestnut from the 1800’s. About 1900, a fungus blighted the trees, allowing in tiny worms, and so we have today Wormy Chestnut.
We also have a bit of pre-blight Chestnut wood from a Moosup River dam in eastern CT. It went dark and gray and gorgeous! Take a look here.
Hand Hewn Hardwoods
Working on a felled tree with ax or adze, men shaped square timbers. Mostly hardwoods, they became sills, beams, joists and rafters in homes. Size depended on their roles, and color on their location.
These timbers are used today for mantels, porches, interior design, and timber framing. Look at Residential.
We have lengths to 36′ and widths to 22″, and can brush them to remove patina and expose the original. We also mill beams to create flooring or other rare wood products for clients. And we have a lot of other home elements.
Modern Applications for Early American Wood
This wood is highly sought after for restorations, of course, but is also desired for creating looks. They can simulate the period, or just give unique warmth and character to a space. Some designers present this rare wood in new, decorative applications as testament to the Old Growth forests of yore, or as contrast.
When you see it and touch it, you will have your own ideas that will integrate both its history and mystery. How grand was the tree that fell to make this plank? What made this or that mark? Did someone drop or throw a crock here? Who walked there once? What wore this down in one place? Why is the grain so strange in this spot? So many inspirations.