Big Tree Hunter
C. M. Hoithcock ond
о
few of his Indion
artifacts.
If you want to know the location
of the biggest, oldest, most distin¬
guished trees in North Carolina, there's
a man in Badin who can tell you.
He has at his fingertips and in his
head more facts and statistics on the
big trees of the Tar Heel state than
the most rabid fan has about the stars
of the movie. TV, and Big League
world.
The beauty queens that
С.
M. Haith-
cock, 88 Maple Street, Badin, judges
have measurements like 36-200-1,000.
The 36 — in feet, of course, is around
the middle. The 200 is feet straight
up. And the 1 ,000 is age in years.
During the past quarter century, Mr.
Hathicock has earned the reputation
among tree lovers and conservationists
everywhere as the "big tree" man of
North Carolina. As probably no other
person does, he knows the big trees of
our state because he has personally
visited, measured, and taken pictures of
most of them.
Twenty-four years ago, he read an
article in The State Magazine about
a certain tree being the largest in the
state. Interested, but disbelieving the
claim, he set out to discover the real
big tree champ and as many as he
could of its distinguished cousins. He
has accomplished his mission and then
some. For today, he is looked to as
an authority on the big trees of North
Carolina as well as one of the state's
leading advocates of big tree preser¬
vation and conservation in general.
The 24-year pursuit of the big tree
avocation has made him an expert
woodsman, taken him on extensive
travels, and equipped him with a knowl¬
edge and keen appreciation of trees
and natural resources that few people
achieve.
Sl.iiily iimn is export on \orlli Caro¬
lina's most notable forest g' hints.
By T. iHOItGW
Where is the state's largest tree?
He says it’s a cypress on the Roa¬
noke River near Jamcsvillc which
measures 36 feet and eight inches in
circumference. Regarded by some to be
the oldest living thing in F.astern
America, this tree is said to be 2,000
years old and is estimated to contain
43,000 board feet of lumber. Mr.
Haithcock believes a more accurate
estimate of its age would be between
1.000 and 1,300 years. He visited and
measured the tree himself 10 years ago
by a boat trip up the river after failing
to reach it by an exhausting cross¬
country hike through the swamps.
He has documented cypress trees all
across eastern North Carolina and
found many notable trees.
Interest in pine trees was reactivated
all over the state when R. O. Heater.
Raleigh well driller, brought up a sec¬
tion of loblolly pine from a depth of
57 feet in Harnett County soil. Experts
determined front the well core speci¬
men that the well-preserved prc-historic
subterranean tree trunk was nine feet
in diameter.
A few of his big trees arc:
Pines — the Ritter pine north of
Carthage. 13 feet cir.; a 16-foot, eight-
inch cir. giant in Wake County; the
Reedy Creek pines in Warren County;
the longlcaf pine on the Maury Ward
plantation in Duplin County; and the
champion shortlcaf pine, a 40-inch
diameter, 146-foot-high, 300-year-old
specimen in the Cedar Grove section
of Burke County.
Poplars — the Rcamcs Creek poplar
near Wcavcrville which had an eight
by 10-foot hollow space inside it; a
21-foot cir.; 200-foot-high poplar near
Siler City set afire by hunters last year;
one containing 12,000 feet of lumber
in the Cattail Swamp near New Bern;
one which four men holding out¬
stretched hands couldn’t reach around
near Shelby; the Wiley poplar in Davie
County; and a 190-foot-high giant in
Yancey County.
Oaks — Wiley Bailey swamp chest¬
nut oak in Davie County over 19 feet;
Shcck oak in Davie over 22 feet; a
Franklin County white oak over 19 feet;
a livcoak over 23 feet in Carteret
County, and a Bertie County oak over
19 feet with a spread of 130 feet.
Official big tree circumference meas¬
urements arc taken at four and a half
feet above ground.
He knows of a dogwood with a cir¬
cumference of over 22 inches in Cho-
( Continued on page 16)
С.
M. Haithcock ond a »moll part of hi» collec¬
tion of moteriol» on
Нее»
of North Carolina and
the USA
THE STATE. NOVEMBER 2S. 1959