History of the Ossipee Pine Barrens

The Ossipee Pine Barrens is one of the New Hampshire Chapter's highest protection priorities. It is one of the rarest forest ecosystems in New Hampshire, and is home to numerous rare lepidoptera (moth and butterfly) species, as well as several rare plant and bird species. Pines barrens used to exist in Manchester, Nashua, and Concord areas, and have all but disappeared. The Ossipee Pine Barrens continues to be a functional system, and owes much of its existence to New Hampshire's unique colonial and land-use history.

In 1750, the first settlers arrived in the Ossipee area. These settlers were subsistence farmers and loggers who cut wood to build their homes. The first settlers tried farming in the area, but the well-drained, sandy acidic soil was not conducive to good agriculture, so the land was deemed "barren." The land and soil was superior for growing trees, particularly white and pitch pine, however. At the same time, Great Britain was emerging as the leading colonial power (primarily through the efforts of its navy) and reached a crisis, it began to run out of wood to build ships. To meet this growing demand, it looked to the colonies, and especially to what is now New Hampshire and Maine. These extensive pine and oak forests supplied much of the wood for ships built along the coast, especially in the Portsmouth area. Local place names in Carroll County bear this out: "Kingswood" High School, "King Pine" ski area and others are testaments to the colonial history.

Even our current road system reminds us of our past. New Hampshire Route 16 from the Ossipee Pine Barrens south to Portsmouth was known as a "mast" road, and is essentially unchanged in its path from colonial days. This road was used to haul huge white pine logs - up to 150 feet long - to Portsmouth for masts and spars for shipbuilding. White pine serves this purpose very well: It grows straight and long, but is very strong, relatively light and easy to work. As a major road, Route 16 is an anomaly for New England road building. The road is very straight and does not run through any towns until it reaches Portsmouth. Both of these design characteristics were necessary to haul these huge logs to their market. Accounts of this effort describe the grueling task of felling, delimbing, and hauling trees to market from Tamworth to Portsmouth, which took three weeks and required 24 oxen to travel the 60-mile route.

But why is all of this important to the pitch pine? Pitch pine is the opposite of white pine in terms of use: Twisted and brittle, it is difficult to work and not strong. But Pitch pine had important colonial uses too, as pitch and caulking for ships, was boiled down for use as turpentine (a colonial medicine - not for paint use) and as torches and fenceposts. Most of these uses required live trees - pitch pine was often scored to extract its pitch - like rubber trees. And so for the most part it was not cut down but left growing, and its stronger, faster-growing competitor, the white pine, was removed for buildings and ships. This is one of the reasons for the preservation of the Ossipee Pine Barrens today. So the next time you are traveling in south central New Hampshire along Route 16, notice its condition, and thank the original settlers for the preservation of one of our state's natural forest treasures.