The Hardwood Harvest

By the 1600s, hardwood lumber was scarce in England. Early exports of the colony were potash, used in the manufacture of glass, and soap ash, which yields liquid soap.<br><br>The ashes of hardwood logs were mixed with water, strained, and heated to a syrup-like consistency. Cooled and hardened in pots, the mixture could be shipped to England. In time the settlers cleared all of the hardwood forests from Jamestown Island.<br><br>Today’s forest is regrowth, mostly of pine.