The 1,400-pound cypress log marks a milestone for the company. It takes quite a skill to figure out the best cuts off a log of this nature - like a diamond cutter," Mr. "A bad sawyer could destroy a log like this. Company President Pete DeVita observed that the boards his partner coaxes from the cypress will probably be worth more than $10,000. Chamberlin continually stopped the saw and eyed the log, repeatedly ordering his assistants to reposition it. Workers quartered the log with chainsaws, chopping it down to fit the mill, where company co-owner Vance Chamberlin prepared to turn wood into gold.Īs the bitter smell of cypress sawdust filled the air, Mr. Using a barge outfitted with a specially designed crane, the company pulled the log from the river bottom north of the Northeast Cape Fear River bridge and ferried it to its Navassa sawmill. The massive tree floated to a sawmill in Wilmington, where it sank before the mill’s blades could turn it into the raw material for a house or a sailing ship.Īnd there it lay, waiting for Cape Fear Riverwood. Using handsaws and mule teams, the men felled it and dragged it into the river, where they tied it to a raft with other logs. By the time loggers discovered it in the 18th or 19th century, its trunk had swollen to 6 feet in diameter.
NAVASSA - More than 1,200 years ago, the cypress tree took root on the banks of the Cape Fear River.
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