The Forest

The Forest through the Years

The Carolina piedmont was first occupied by Native Americans who shaped the landscape through burnings and agriculture. Their man-made fires improved forests for hunting, facilitated travel, and cleared fields for agriculture. By the time that Europeans arrived, the area around Kings Mountain was described as consisting of large fields, open forests, and savannas easy to travel through, with plenty of grass for livestock. Many colonial maps and accounts from reference the meadows, prairies, and canebrakes that dominated the region. These prairie-like fields and open woodlands were thus important ecological zones of the 18^th century Carolina piedmont. Early European settlers in the 1740’s-1760’s appear to have continued to manage the land in the same way that the Native Americans had.

 

Oak Prairie at Kings Mountain NMP

NPS Photo

When the battle of Kings Mountain was fought in 1780, the vegetation and plant life still reflected these earlier land management practices. Many accounts of the battle describe the ridge top as bare, with widely spaced trees along the slopes of the mountain. Local European settlers and perhaps earlier Native American inhabitants of the region had cleared the top of the mountain to create an area where hunters and travelers could encamp. The area around the mountain was described as forested, with little or no underbrush. Unfortunately, none of the accounts reference the age of the forest or the types of trees.

 

Open area of forest on the battlefield at Kings Mountain National Military Park

NPS Photo

Long after the battle, Robert Mills visited the battleground while compiling information for a report which he published in 1826 entitled Statistics of South Carolina. He described the area as “wild as it then was, and indeed is now.” His description of York County’s native plant life gives us some idea of what the forest would have been like at the time of the battle.

“The timber trees are chiefly the various kinds of oak, poplar, hickory, chestnut, and a little shortleaf pine. Some spots are very rich in several varieties of trees of prodigious growth. I have seen near the banks of the Catawba…noble oaks of several kinds, hickory, of the common and the shell bark species, ash, beech, and the beautiful tulip tree or poplar…the sycamore, sassafras, dogwood, ironwood, hackberry, walnut, buckeye, or horse chestnut, and redbud, mixed with a few small pines. The cucumber tree [Magnolia acuminata] abounds here…also the paupau (or arnona) [Asimina tribola], and some sugar trees [Acer barbatum]; one of which has been measured ten feet round, or three feet through.”

In 1797, Governor Charles Pinckney granted Kings Mountain to a man named John Alexander. The 500-acre land grant included the battleground. The land was divided up and sold to various local farmers. It is not clear how the battleground itself was managed, though evidence suggests it may have been set aside for cattle grazing and hunting. By the mid nineteenth century, Kings Mountain was still exhibiting open hardwood forest interspersed with meadows of native grasses. However, this was soon to change as the various iron works of York County grew in importance, making timber an ever more significant commodity. At the same time, farmers were clearing more and more land as demand for cotton grew. The increase in cotton production ultimately led to severe soil depletion, so that by 1930 abandoned fields became a common feature of the region.

 

Crowd at the 150th or Sesquicentennial of the battle of Kings Mountain

NPS Photo

In 1930 the 150^th or Sesquicentennial of the battle of Kings Mountain was celebrated at the battleground. There had been earlier celebrations, which often involved clearing trees and underbrush but nothing that matched the scale of the 1930 event. A series of roads, trails, and five parking lots capable of accommodating 15,000 cars were constructed to bring visitors to the battleground. Exhibit booths, stages, restrooms, water stations, and tents were set up. Since President Herbert Hoover was attending to give the keynote speech, the north slope of Kings Mountain was cleared of trees, saplings, and underbrush to create standing room for 60,000 people. The area west of the battleground was completely treeless.

Attitudes were changing however, and following the celebration support for restoring forests grew. In 1938 reforestation began, with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) taking the lead. By 1941 some 72,000 saplings had been planted. These efforts were very successful, and by 1971 the park was completely forested. Today, the park consists primarily of secondary growth hardwood forest. Some natural open areas can be found along the southwestern slopes of the battleground, but in most places shrubby vegetation is abundant. There are no known witness trees, which are trees that were around at the time of the battle, in the park. Efforts to retore the forest to its historical appearance through the park’s Wildland Fire program are ongoing.