River Wood Flutes

Before the white man arrived in North America, vast forests covered the land. In North Carolina, Longleaf Heart Pine and Cypress trees dominated the piedmont and coastal regions. Starting in early Colonial days and continuing through the 1800’s, these old growth forests were cut, then floated on the rivers of eastern North Carolina to the saw mills. Many of the trees cut were floated down the Cape Fear River, bound together as a raft, to the mills around the port city of Wilmington. A large number of the trees were so dense that they sank to the bottom of the river.

These centuries-old trees, preserved in pristine condition by the cool waters devoid of oxygen, are today recovered by the Cape Fear Riverwood Company of Wilmington. Once pulled from underneath the river sediment, the timber is milled, dried, then sold to be used mainly in furniture and home flooring.

These old-growth trees, with its tight grained wood not found today, offer excellent tonal properties for musical instruments. From their silence of the centuries underwater, these trees can sing again, not from the winds that blew across early America, but from the breath of the player giving it a new voice. It is truly like stepping back in time.