1.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
2.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
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Clapboard (architecture)
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Clapboard in modern usage is a word for long, thin boards used to cover walls and roofs of buildings. Clapboards were originally riven radially producing triangular or feather-edged sections, attached thin side up, later, the boards were radially sawn in a type of sawmill called a clapboard mill, producing vertical-grain clapboards. The more commonly used boards in New England are vertical-grain boards, depending on the diameter of the log, cuts are made from 4½ to 6½ deep along the full length of the log. Each time the log turns for the cut, it is rotated ⅝ until it has turned 360°. This gives the radially sawn clapboard its taper and true vertical grain, flat-grain clapboards are cut tangent to the annual growth rings of the tree. As this technique was common in most parts of the British Isles, it was carried by immigrants to their colonies in the Americas and in Australia, flat-sawn wood cups more and does not hold paint as well as radially sawn wood. Chamferboards are an Australian form of weatherboarding using tongue-and-groove joints to link the boards together to give a flatter external appearance than regular angled weatherboards, some modern clapboards are made up of shorter pieces of wood finger jointed together with an adhesive. In North America clapboards were historically made of oak, pine. Modern clapboards are available in red cedar and pine, in some areas, clapboards were traditionally left as raw wood, relying upon good air circulation and the use of semi-hardwoods to keep the boards from rotting. These boards eventually go grey as the tannins are washed out from the wood, more recently clapboard has been tarred or painted—traditionally black or white due to locally occurring minerals or pigments. In modern clapboard these colors remain popular, but with a wider variety due to chemical pigments. In New Zealand, clapboard housing dominates buildings before 1960, clapboard, with a corrugated iron roof, was found to be a cost-effective building style. After the big earthquakes of 1855 and 1931, wooden buildings were perceived as being vulnerable to damage. Clapboard is always referred to as weatherboard in New Zealand, newer, cheaper designs often imitate the form of clapboard construction as siding made of vinyl, aluminum, fiber cement, or other man-made materials. Clinker Research report containing photos of a roof in Virginia
4.
Framing (construction)
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Framing, in construction, is the fitting together of pieces to give a structure support and shape. Framing materials are wood, engineered wood, or structural steel. Light-frame construction using standardized dimensional lumber has become the dominant construction method in North America, use of minimal structural material allows builders to enclose a large area with minimal cost, while achieving a wide variety of architectural styles. Historically mankind fitted naturally shaped wooden poles together as framework and then began using joints to connect the timbers, the studs in a balloon frame extend two stories from sill to plate. Platform framing superseded balloon framing and is the wooden framing method today. The name comes from each level being framed as a separate unit or platform. Modern light-frame structures usually gain strength from rigid panels but until recently carpenters employed various forms of diagonal bracing to stabilize walls. Diagonal bracing remains a vital part of many roof systems. Special framed shear walls are becoming common to help buildings meet the requirements of earthquake engineering. The alternative to framed construction is called mass wall construction which is made from horizontal layers of stacked materials such as log building, masonry, rammed earth, adobe. Wall framing in house construction includes the vertical and horizontal members of exterior walls and interior partitions, the platforms may be the boxed structure of a ceiling and roof, or the ceiling and floor joists of the story above. The platform also provides the support against wind and holds the stick walls true. Any lower platform supports the weight of the platforms and walls above the level of its component headers, framing lumber should be grade-stamped, and have a moisture content not exceeding 19%. There are three common methods of framing a house. Post and beam, which is now used predominantly in barn construction, balloon framing using a technique suspending floors from the walls was common until the late 1940s, but since that time, platform framing has become the predominant form of house construction. Platform framing often forms wall sections horizontally on the prior to erection, easing positioning of studs. The top and bottom plates are end-nailed to each stud with two nails at least 3.25 in in length, studs are at least doubled at openings, the jack stud being cut to receive the lintels that are placed and end-nailed through the outer studs. Others, such as rigid glass-fiber, asphalt-coated fiberboard, polystyrene or polyurethane board, in this latter case, the wall should be reinforced with a diagonal wood or metal bracing inset into the studs
5.
Historic Richmond Town
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Historic Richmond Town is an authentic town and farm museum complex in the neighborhood of Richmondtown, Staten Island, in New York City. It is located near the center of the island, at the junction of Richmond Road. Staten Island Historical Society and Historic Richmond Town are two different names for the organization, reflecting its long history and evolution. The original settlement of Richmond Town was known as Cocclestown in the 1690s due to an abundace of oyster shells. People who lived in Richmond Town were mostly of Dutch, English, or French descent, and the most common jobs were those of blacksmiths, shoemakers, british troops were stationed in Richmond Town during the American Revolution. Historic Richmond Town consists of more than 30 historic buildings and sites dating from the late 17th to the early 20th centuries, decker Farm, located about one mile from the center of Historic Richmond Town, features a farm stand and seasonal activities such as pumpkin picking. The site also contains other former commercial and government buildings, as well as buildings and homes. The main campus of Historic Richmond Town occupies 25 acres of a 100-acre site with 15 restored buildings, the two churches located outside the museum site are St. Andrews Episcopal and St. Patricks RC. A third church, the Reformed Dutch Church of Richmond, was demolished, mount Richmond Cemetery, operated by the Hebrew Free Burial Association, is also adjacent to the site. The purpose of this village is to make visitors feel as if they are living in the 19th century. Visitors are able to have an experience of what Historic Richmond Town once was. The Voorlezers House, dating to c,1695, is the oldest exhibit as well as the oldest standing elementary school in the United States. Another exhibit to see is the Guyon-Lake-Tysen House, a Dutch Colonial farmhouse dating to c, the Christopher House, a restoration-in-progress which dates to c. 1720, features the only functioning jambless fireplace in New York City, Historic Richmond Town is featured prominently in the documentary A Walk Around Staten Island with David Hartman and Barry Lewis, which profiles the history and culture of Staten Island. It premiered on December 3,2007, on PBS member station WNET, Richmond Town was featured in the third season of the television series Boardwalk Empire. A 1920s diner and gas station were constructed and shot on location and these sets were shown in the shows third season, which aired in fall of 2012 on HBO. Visitors can reach Richmond Town via public transportation by taking the S74 Arthur Kill Road bus from the St. George Ferry Terminal, the ride from the ferry terminal takes about 37 minutes. The S54 Manor Road bus also provides service on weekdays
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Staten Island
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Staten Island /ˌstætən ˈaɪlənd/ is one of the five boroughs of New York City in the U. S. state of New York. In the southwest of the city, Staten Island is the southernmost part of both the city and state of New York, with Conference House Park at the tip of the island. The borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, with a 2015 Census-estimated population of 474,558, Staten Island is the least populated of the boroughs but is the third-largest in area at 58 sq mi. Staten Island is the borough of New York with a non-Hispanic White majority. The borough is coextensive with Richmond County, and until 1975 was the Borough of Richmond and its flag was later changed to reflect this. Staten Island has been called the forgotten borough by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government. The East Shore is home to the 2. 5-mile F. D. R, Boardwalk, the fourth-longest in the world. The South Shore, site of the 17th-century Dutch and French Huguenot settlement, the West Shore is the least populated and most industrial part of the island. Motor traffic can reach the borough from Brooklyn via the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and from New Jersey via the Outerbridge Crossing, Goethals Bridge, and Bayonne Bridge. Staten Island has Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus lines and an MTA rapid transit line, the Staten Island Railway, Staten Island is the only borough that is not connected to the New York City Subway system. The free Staten Island Ferry connects the borough to Manhattan and is a popular tourist attraction, providing views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Lower Manhattan. The landfill is being redeveloped as Freshkills Park, a devoted to restoring habitat. As in much of North America, human habitation appeared in the island fairly rapidly after the retreat of the ice sheet, archaeologists have recovered tool evidence of Clovis culture activity dating from about 14,000 years ago. This evidence was first discovered in 1917 in the Charleston section of the island, various Clovis artifacts have been discovered since then, on property owned by Mobil Oil. The island was abandoned later, possibly because of the extirpation of large mammals on the island. Rossville points are a type of arrowhead that defines a Native American cultural period that runs from the Archaic period to the Early Woodland period. They are named for the Rossville section of Staten Island, where they were first found near the old Rossville Post Office building, at the time of European contact, the island was inhabited by the Raritan band of the Unami division of the Lenape. In Lenape, one of the Algonquian languages, Staten Island was called Aquehonga Manacknong, meaning as far as the place of the bad woods, or Eghquhous, the area was part of the Lenape homeland known as Lenapehoking
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New Netherland
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New Netherland was a 17th-century colonial province of the Seven United Netherlands that was located on the East Coast of North America. The colony was conceived as a business venture to exploit the North American fur trade. The settlement of New Sweden encroached on its flank, while its northern border was re-drawn to accommodate an expanding New England. During the 1650s, the colony experienced dramatic growth and became a port for trade in the North Atlantic. The surrender of Fort Amsterdam to England in 1664 was formalized in 1667, in 1673, the Dutch re-took the area but relinquished it under the Second Treaty of Westminster ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War the next year. The inhabitants of New Netherland were Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans, descendants of the original settlers played a prominent role in colonial America. For two centuries, New Netherland Dutch culture characterized the region, during the 17th century, Europe was undergoing expansive social, cultural, and economic growth, known as the Dutch Golden Age in the Netherlands. Nations vied for domination of trade routes around the globe. Simultaneously, philosophical and theological conflicts were manifested in military battles across the continent, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands had become a home to many intellectuals, international businessmen, and religious refugees. He was turned back by the ice of the Arctic in his second attempt and he ended up exploring the waters off the east coast of North America aboard the vlieboot Halve Maen. His first landfall was at Newfoundland and the second at Cape Cod, Hudson believed that the passage to the Pacific ocean was between the St. Lawrence River and Chesapeake Bay, so he sailed south to the Bay then turned northward, traveling close along the shore. He first discovered Delaware Bay and began to sail upriver looking for the passage and this effort was foiled by sandy shoals, and the Halve Maen continued north. After passing Sandy Hook, Hudson and his crew entered the narrows into the Upper New York Bay, Hudson believed that he had found the continental water route, so he sailed up the major river which later bore his name, the Hudson. He found the water too shallow to proceed several days later, at the site of present-day Troy and his report was first published in 1611 by Emanuel Van Meteren, an Antwerp émigré and the Dutch Consul at London. This stimulated interest in exploiting this new resource, and it was the catalyst for Dutch merchant-traders to fund more expeditions. Flemish Lutheran émigré merchants such as Arnout Vogels sent the first follow-up voyages to exploit this discovery as early as July 1610. In 1611–1612, the Admiralty of Amsterdam sent two expeditions to find a passage to China with the yachts Craen and Vos, captained by Jan Cornelisz Mey and Symon Willemsz Cat. The results of explorations, surveys, and charts made from 1609 through 1614 were consolidated in Block’s map
8.
Mortar (masonry)
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In its broadest sense mortar includes pitch, asphalt, and soft mud or clay, such as used between mud bricks. Mortar comes from Latin mortarium meaning crushed, mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder, and water. The most common binder since the early 20th century is Portland cement, there are several types of cement mortars and additives. The first mortars were made of mud and clay, because of a lack of stone and an abundance of clay, Babylonian constructions were of baked brick, using lime or pitch for mortar. According to Roman Ghirshman, the first evidence of using a form of mortar was at the Mehrgarh of Baluchistan in Pakistan. The ancient sites of Harappan civilization of third millennium BCE are built with kiln-fired bricks, gypsum mortar, also called plaster of Paris, was used in the construction of the Egyptian pyramids and many other ancient structures. It is made from gypsum, which requires a firing temperature. It is therefore easier to make lime mortar and sets up much faster which may be a reason it was used as the typical mortar in ancient, brick arch. Gypsum mortar is not as durable as other mortars in damp conditions, in early Egyptian pyramids, which were constructed during the Old Kingdom, the limestone blocks were bound by mortar of mud and clay, or clay and sand. In later Egyptian pyramids, the mortar was made of gypsum or lime. Gypsum mortar was essentially a mixture of plaster and sand and was quite soft, in the Indian subcontinent, multiple cement types have been observed in the sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as the Mohenjo-daro city-settlement that dates to earlier than 2600 BCE. Bitumen mortar was used at a lower-frequency, including in the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro. Historically, building with concrete and mortar next appeared in Greece, the excavation of the underground aqueduct of Megara revealed that a reservoir was coated with a pozzolanic mortar 12 mm thick. This aqueduct dates back to c.500 BCE, pozzolanic mortar is a lime based mortar, but is made with an additive of volcanic ash that allows it to be hardened underwater, thus it is known as hydraulic cement. The Greeks obtained the volcanic ash from the Greek islands Thira and Nisiros, or from the then Greek colony of Dicaearchia near Naples, the Romans later improved the use and methods of making what became known as pozzolanic mortar and cement. Even later, the Romans used a mortar without pozzolana using crushed terra cotta, introducing aluminum oxide and this mortar was not as strong as pozzolanic mortar, but, because it was denser, it better resisted penetration by water. Hydraulic mortar was not available in ancient China, possibly due to a lack of volcanic ash, around 500 CE, sticky rice soup was mixed with slaked lime to make an inorganic−organic composite mortar that had more strength and water resistance than lime mortar. It is not understood how the art of making hydraulic mortar and cement, during the Middle Ages when the Gothic cathedrals were being built, the only active ingredient in the mortar was lime
9.
Broadaxe
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A broadaxe is a large- headed axe. There are two categories of cutting edge on broadaxes, both are used for shaping logs by hewing, on one type, one side is flat and the other side beveled, a basilled edge, also called a side axe, single bevel, or chisle-edged axe. On the other type, both sides are beveled, sometimes called a double axe, which produces a scalloped cut. On the basilled broadaxe the handle may curve away from the side to allow an optimal stance by the hewer in relation to the hewn surface. The flat blade is to make the surface but can only be worked from one direction and are right-handed or left-handed. The double bevel axe has a handle can be swung with either side against the wood. A double beveled broad axe can be used for chopping or notching and hewing, when used for hewing, a notch is chopped in the side of the log down to a marked line, called scoring. The pieces of wood between these notches are removed with an axe called joggling and then the wood is chopped away to the line. Broad axes have been used since ancient times until the end of 19th century in North America, broadaxes were commonly used in manufacture of square timbers for wooden shipbuilding, log building, timber framing, and railroad ties sometimes called axe ties. Some broad axes are of a shape where part of the axe is called a beard so the axe is called a long-bearded axe. Since the introduction of sawmills and modern tools, the use of this tool is now uncommon in manufacturing
10.
Chimney
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A chimney is a structure that provides ventilation for hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the stack, the space inside a chimney is called a flue. Chimneys may be found in buildings, steam locomotives and ships, in the United States, the term smokestack is also used when referring to locomotive chimneys or ship chimneys, and the term funnel can also be used. The height of a chimney influences its ability to transfer flue gases to the environment via stack effect. Additionally, the dispersion of pollutants at higher altitudes can reduce their impact on the immediate surroundings, in the case of chemically aggressive output, a sufficiently tall chimney can allow for partial or complete self-neutralization of airborne chemicals before they reach ground level. The dispersion of pollutants over an area can reduce their concentrations. Romans used tubes inside the walls to draw out of bakeries. The earliest extant example of an English chimney is at the keep of Conisbrough Castle in Yorkshire, however, they did not become common in houses until the 16th and 17th centuries. Smoke hoods were a method of collecting the smoke into a chimney. Another step in the development of chimneys was the use of built in ovens which allowed the household to bake at home, industrial chimneys became common in the late 18th century. Chimneys in ordinary dwellings were first built of wood and plaster or mud, since then chimneys have traditionally been built of brick or stone, both in small and large buildings. Early chimneys were of a brick construction. Later chimneys were constructed by placing the bricks around tile liners, to control downdrafts, venting caps with a variety of designs are sometimes placed on the top of chimneys. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the used to extract lead from its ore produced large amounts of toxic fumes. Lead and silver deposits formed on the inside of these long chimneys, todays central heating systems have made chimney placement less critical, and the use of non-structural gas vent pipe allows a flue gas conduit to be installed around obstructions and through walls. In fact, most modern high-efficiency heating appliances do not require a chimney, such appliances are generally installed near an external wall, and a noncombustible wall thimble allows a vent pipe to run directly through the external wall. On a pitched roof where a chimney penetrates a roof, flashing is used to seal up the joints, the down-slope piece is called an apron, the sides receive step flashing and a cricket is used to divert water around the upper side of the chimney underneath the flashing. Industrial chimneys are commonly referred to as flue gas stacks and are generally external structures and they are generally located adjacent to a steam-generating boiler or industrial furnace and the gases are carried to them with ductwork
11.
Bedroom
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A bedroom is a room of a house, mansion, hotel, dormitory, or apartment where people sleep. A typical western bedroom contains as bedroom furniture one or two beds, a closet, a nightstand, and a dresser. Except in bungalows or one-storey motels, bedrooms are usually on one of the floors of a dwelling that is ground level. Modern bedrooms often have central heating, Older bedrooms in countries with cool or cold climates often had built-in fireplaces and these were not normally lit, but provided for times when a sick person or invalid was occupying the bedroom. In larger Victorian houses it was common to have accessible from the bedroom a boudoir for the lady of the house and a dressing room for the gentleman. Attic bedrooms exist in some houses, since they are separated from the outside air by the roof they are typically cold in winter. The slope of the rafters supporting a pitched roof also makes them inconvenient, in houses where servants were living in they often used attic bedrooms. In the 14th century the lower class slept on mattresses that were stuffed with straw, during the 16th century mattresses stuffed with feathers started to gain popularity, with those who could afford them. The common person was doing if he could buy a mattress after seven years of marriage. In the 18th century cotton and wool started to more common. The first coil spring mattress wasn’t invented until 1871, the most common and most purchased mattress is the innerspring mattress. The variety of choices range from soft to a rather firm mattress. A bedroom may have bunk beds if more than one person share a room, a chamber pot kept under the bed or in a nightstand was usual in the period before modern domestic plumbing and bathrooms in dwellings. Furniture and other items in bedrooms vary greatly, depending on taste, local traditions, for instance, a master bedroom may include a bed of a specific size, one or more dressers, a nightstand, one or more closets, and carpeting. Built-in closets are less common in Europe than in North America, an individual’s bedroom is a reflection of their personality, as well as social class and socioeconomic status, and is unique to each person. The various television series of Come Dine with Me expose to view some of the bedrooms of the hosts of particular programmes both to the guests and to those who choose to watch, however, there are certain items that are common in most bedrooms. Mattresses usually have a bed set to raise the mattress off the floor, there are many different types of mattresses. They are used to put items on, such as an alarm clock or a small lamp
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Pinus strobus
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Pinus strobus, commonly denominated the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine, and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. The Native American Haudenosaunee denominated it the Tree of Peace and it is known as the Weymouth pine in the United Kingdom, after Captain George Weymouth of the British Royal Navy, who brought its seeds to England from Maine in 1605. Pinus strobus is found in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome of eastern North America. It prefers well-drained or sandy soils and humid climates, but can grow in boggy areas. In mixed forests, this dominant tree towers over many others and it provides food and shelter for numerous forest birds, such as the red crossbill, and small mammals such as squirrels. Eastern White Pine forests originally covered much of north-central and north-eastern North America, only one percent of the old-growth forests remain after the extensive logging operations of the 18th century to early 20th century. Old growth forests, or virgin stands, are protected in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, many sites with conspicuously large specimens represent advanced old field ecological succession. The tall stands in Mohawk Trail State Forest and William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Massachusetts are examples, as an introduced species, Pinus strobus is now naturalizing in the Outer Eastern Carpathians subdivision of the Carpathian Mountains in Czech Republic and southern Poland. It has spread from specimens planted as ornamental trees, like all members of the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, the leaves are in fascicles of 5, or rarely 3 or 4, with a deciduous sheath. They are flexible, bluish-green, finely serrated, 5–13 cm long, and persist for 18 months, i. e. from the spring of one season until autumn of the next, when they abscise. The cones are slender, 8–16 cm long and 4–5 cm broad when open, the seeds are 4–5 mm long, with a slender 15–20 mm wing, and are dispersed by wind. Cone production peaks every 3 to 5 years, while Eastern White Pine is self-fertile, seeds produced this way tend to result in weak, stunted, and malformed seedlings. Mature trees are often 200–250 years old, and some live to over 400 years, a tree growing near Syracuse, New York was dated to 458 years old in the late 1980s and trees in Michigan and Wisconsin were dated to approximately 500 years old. The Eastern White Pine has the distinction of being the tallest tree in eastern North America, in natural pre-colonial stands it is reported to have grown as tall as 70 m. There is no means of documenting the height of trees from these times. Even greater heights have been reported in popular, but unverifiable, accounts such as Robert Pikes Tall Trees, total trunk volumes of the largest specimens are approximately 28 m3, with some past giants possibly reaching 37 or 40 m3. Photographic analysis of giants suggests volumes closer to 34 m3, Pinus strobus grows approximately 1 m annually between the ages of 15 and 45 years, with slower height increments before and after that age range. The tallest presently living specimens are 50–57.55 m tall, three locations in southeastern United States and one site in northeastern United States have trees that are 55 m tall
