A History Lesson to go with your New Construction Knowledge

Historically, one of the most important industries of the Florida Panhandle was turpentining.  There are thousands of acres of native pine forest here, and land owners used poor, usually Black workers, to gather the pine sap by slashing the trees and collecting the drippings in tin cups.

The sticky sap was put into barrels then taken to a still to be boiled and processed into the finished products.  At St. Andrews State Park we visited a reconstructed turpentine still.

It once operated nearby, and was interesting to explore.

Here is a posted diagram of the huge still.  Bill studied the picture but still didn't quite "get it" so maybe some engineer someday will explain it to him.  He did, however, believe he would have been good at gathering the sap.