Title	Naval Stores industry.
Subject	Naval Stores, Turpentine, Distillery
Description	Turpentine distillery at an unknown site. Since colonial times, naval stores were an important industry for not only southeastern North Carolina, but the nation as well. World commerce depended on ships with wooden hulls, tarred riggings and sails, making pitch, tar, turpentine and rosin very valuable commodities. The lower Cape Fear region had large areas of virgin forests, containing thousands of pine trees, which were the raw material for the industry. Across the Cape Fear River from Wilmington, Eagles Island became the center of the industry, where a number of lumber mills and turpentine distilleries were located. Wilmington was the largest city and chief port of the region and millions of dollars of naval stores were exported to countries all over the world. By 1848, the industry was at its zenith. Gradually over the years, ships were built with other materials and by the latter half of the nineteenth century, the industry had declined. Turpentine workers tap rosin from a pine tree, that has been prepared by hacking the bark of the tree, producing a sap. The sap is distilled producing turpentine, which is a resinous juice or ole-resin. The harvesting of the sap or hacking usually was done from about March 15th and lasted until October or November.
Source	Louis T. Moore Collection 299