The King's Broad Arrow

[SteveA]

Time for something new here in the History section of Winni.com, I know History isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I find the history of the Lakes Region very interesting.

The pavillion at LSP has the most amazing 40+ ft. beams that are all each from a single White Pine that was growing on the property of LSP. Built in the late 1800's by the railroad, the work to mill these beams must have been a great deal of work. When I asked the manager of the park, Alan Kirkman, about the beams, he referred to them as the "King's Pines". Fascinated, I did a little research.

So with a "Tip of the Hat" to McDude,RG and Lake Lady.. here is something a little different.


A part of the history of New Hampshire, and of all of the early United States, was the interaction of the early settlers and the government of England.
Before the Boston Tea Party, there was a quiet revolution taking place in the forests of New England, including the lands around Winnipesaukee


“Acting as dominion over the forests of “New England”, the King assumed ownership of the best of the Eastern White Pine trees and appointed a legion of Surveyors of Pines and Timber to survey the forestland “within 10 miles of any navigable waterway” and mark all suitable trees with “The King’s Broad Arrow”, a series of three hatchet slashes. This was the symbol commonly used to signify ownership of property or goods by the Crown, in this case to be owned and used solely by the Royal Navy. Any tree of a diameter of twenty-four inches and greater at twelve inches from the ground, with “a yard of height for each inch of diameter at the butt” was blazed with the broad arrow. Violation by the colonists of this rule would be assessed a fine of £100. Persons appointed to the position of Surveyor-General of His Majesty’s Woods were responsible for selecting, marking and recording trees as well as policing and enforcing the unlicensed cutting of protected trees.
Use of the broad arrow mark commenced in earnest in 1691 when the revised Massachusetts Bay Charter included in its last paragraph a “Mast Preservation Clause” stating (original language):
“And lastly for the better provideing and furnishing of Masts for Our Royall Navy Wee doe hereby reserve to Vs Our Heires and Successors all Trees of the Diameter of Twenty Four Inches and upwards of Twelve Inches from the ground growing vpon any soyle or Tract of Land within Our said Province or Territory not heretofore granted to any private persons And Wee doe restrains and forbid all persons whatsoever from felling cutting or destroying any such Trees without the Royall Lycence of Vs Our Heires and Successors first had and obteyned vpon penalty of Forfeiting One Hundred Pounds sterling vnto Ous Our Heires and Successors for every such Tree soe felled cult or destroyed without such Lycence had and obteyned in that behalfe any thing in.”

More Here:
http://www.nelma.org/lagniappe/the-k...rn-white-pine/

[ApS]

I'm a very big fan of White Pines. Every lake lined with them has higher water quality. Compare with lakes with a mix of species--especially Eastern Hemlock, and miscellaneous deciduous trees. Just dig down near their shed needles and see the difference made with layers of pine needles.

White Pines are the first trees to for carpentry, the first to return after a forest fire, and the first to be "gotten rid of as 'nuisance trees', dripping sap on my car".

The link doesn't mention it, but such a valuable tree to the Crown was routinely felled on a clear-cut mat of its White Pine neighboring trees to preserve the trunk of the tree from splitting and internal damage. Nonetheless, my neighbors and I have some White Pines that were spared the ax, and may be old enough to have shaded King George III's Redcoats! (Twelve-foot girth).

This painting shows the size of masts on British "Ships of the Line". This shows Lord Nelson's ship—HMS Victory—at Trafalgar in 1805.


The "Broad Arrow" appeared on cannons and firearms of British manufacture, at least until WWII.

[mcdude]

The second royal governor, John Wentworth, had his residence in Portsmouth and his summer residence in Wolfeboro. A highway was (at least partially) built between the two.... mostly for the purpose of getting these tall pines from the King's woods down to Portsmouth to be used as ship's masts. This was how Kingswood Regional High School and the Kingswood Golf Course acquired their names.

In 1759, the original proprietors of Wolfeboro divided the town into four equal tracts of nine square miles each. These were subdivided into a total of twenty lots. Three of these were reserved for public uses. One was for schools and one was for "the minister of the gospel." The third was for public uses and ten acres of this land were set aside as a public tract to be used for a town square, training field, burying ground, or for other public use. The white pine trees on these public lots received special attention. All white pines suitable for use as masts or other timbers in his majesty's ships were reserved. Trees then growing or any that grew in the future were specifically to be earmarked for the Royal Navy. The remaining seventeen tracts were for the settlers to clear and establish their homesteads. By 1804 the lots had increased to twenty-four as revealed in the Henry Rust map published in the 1974 edition of the Parker History of Wolfeborough. A copy of this map may be seen at the Wolfeboro National Bank on Brickyard Hill.

from the History of Wolfeboro, NH http://www.smalltowngems.com/browset...wnhistory.html

[SteveA]

Great information.. Kings Wood.. Thanks McDude and ApS for adding that info!