Mariner’s Museum Long Leaf Pines and Naming Importance - Alese Cowardin

 Right before Fall Fest at the Mariner’s Park, a group of students and I went to help them set up and then we took a short walk with Kelly Garner, in which he pointed out various trees. We ended up stopping at one of the groves that they are attempting to grow the long leaf pines in, as that was a big part of the park’s environment back when people first settled here in Virginia and started shipbuilding. The long leaf pines provide a very desired wood for the shipbuilders, which ultimately caused the overharvesting of the pines in this area. This is especially interesting because the recent replanting effort of these pines with the Mariner’s Park has been sponsored by Newport News Shipbuilding. If you go look at the trees, you will find the sponsorship of the company written on each placard in front of each tree, along with the tree’s name. This is where it gets really interesting: the names for each tree correspond to a ship that Newport News Shipbuilding built, probably with wood from the original long leaf pines. These include, but are not limited to well known ships such as the SS United States and SS America, as well as simpler ships such as the Dorothy Tugboat. The naming of these trees after the ships that were built from them symbolizes giving back to nature after taking from it, an effort we would do well to continue in the future.

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