"Old-Field" White Pine Forest on Abandoned Farmland

As the "old-field" stands of white pine reached middle age, it became evident that they contained a valuable and rapidly growing crop of second-growth timber. As this white pine became marketable portable sawmills appeared across central New England. One of the most common and valuable uses of these pines was for "box boards" used to make shipping containers prior to the development of corrugated cardboard in the 1930s.