One block north of Wall Street in lower Manhattan is Pine Street. Why Pine – and in this ancient part of the city? Consider this. The Pine tree was a symbol on the earliest American flag. White Pine (Pinus Strobus) was the largest and tallest tree in the East. And it contributed to the American Revolution (coveted for ship masts). But its greatest value was as a framing lumber for building New York in the 1800’s. By the turn of the 20th c., the vast stands of majestic White Pine in the Northeast were gone – only to resurface a hundred and fifty years later through the demolition process.
