When European explorers first visited the area,
they saw an almost unbroken expanse of forest. By all accounts, the
extent of the forest and the size of individual trees were almost
beyond our comprehension. However, the forest was not untouched.
Native Americans had inhabited the region for hundreds of years and
had left their mark, primarily with fire. Of course, fire had always
occurred naturally and had helped shape the vegetative communities,
but the Indians also intentionally set fires to open the forest, aid
in hunting, and clear small patches for agriculture. The sand ridges
were covered almost exclusively by long leaf pine. Explorers of the
1600s reported huge tracts of such pines suitable for ship masts and
other naval stores. The loblolly pine, now so common, was a tree of
the swamps and an invader of newly cleared areas. The loblolly could
not tolerate fire as well as the long leaf. The long leaf was
replaced by agriculture and other tree species as it succumbed to
turpentine and tar production and the rooting of range hogs. Cutting
the trees to collect the sap made them extremely susceptible to
fire, and range hogs devoured the young pine seedlings. Virgin
growth trees were much larger than most of the ones we see today. As
late as the 1890s, a pine was considered marketable only if it had
12 inches of heartwood on the small end of the log (Ashe, 1894).
Destructive forest fires occurred frequently. Settlers used fire for
land clearing and intentionally set woods fires to encourage new
growth for cattle grazing and to control ticks. Both cattle and hogs
ranged freely and had a considerable impact on native vegetation.
In between the sand ridges and the swamps were the Oak Flats. Few of
these remain, because they occupied some of the better agricultural
soils and were more easily drained than the more inaccessible
swamps. The grove of oaks at Plumblee Park in Plymouth is a small
reminder, as is the oak grove south of US 64 just east of Creswell.
Oak Flats have been described as one of the rarest of the tidewater
vegetation communities.
Wetter areas of the county were forested by swamp blackgum, tulip
poplar, red maple, sweet bay, red bay, and an occasional loblolly
pine or bald cypress. In Washington County, there were extensive
areas of this type of vegetation, especially south of Roper in the
headwaters of Mackeys Creek. A remnant of this plant community can
be seen on the north shore of Lake Phelps west of the cypress stand.
This is probably as close to a virgin forest as exists in Washington
County. Other noteworthy areas with similar vegetation include part
of what is known as the Parker tract southwest of Roper, and part of
Van Swamp. In 1982 these areas were identified by the North Carolina
Coastal Energy Impact Program as areas worthy of protection (Lynch
and Peacock, 1982), even though somewhat modified.
As mentioned previously, the land north of Lake Phelps was
originally forested by baldcypress. Edmund Ruffin described the
forest (Ruffin, 1861) with its large trees and the method of
girdling and felling for land clearing. A remnant exists today in
Pettigrew State Park on the North Shore of Lake Phelps. This area
was also noted by the North Carolina Energy Impact Program (Lynch
and Peacock, 1982).
Atlantic White Cedar was an especially prized wood of the swamps,
and there was originally a much larger acreage than exists today.
The cedar is rot-resistant, does not splinter, and is easily worked.
No large stands are in the county today, but there are a few small
groves, and scattered individual trees are not uncommon along
drainage ways. One easily observed stand is just north of US 64 on
Welch’s Creek at the Martin County line. Atlantic White Cedar
typically occurs in even-aged stands and requires land disturbance,
such as fire, to become established. However, it is not
fire-tolerant and is easily killed by wildfires. It is usually found
on deep organic soils, and many stands were destroyed over the
years, first by fire and later by logging. Atlantic White Cedar has
been difficult to grow commercially, but the North Carolina Forestry
Department, Weyerhaeuser Company, and others have several
experimental plantings in the region.