"Valdosta is called the “Naval Stores Capital of the World” and supplies 80% of the worlds demand for naval stores, pine, and turpentine," the Marcus & Millichap says.

"Valdosta is the 16th largest city in Georgia and is one of Georgia's largest cities and is the center of the growing four-county Valdosta MSA along the I-75 Corridor."

"The early colonists used the pine tar and pitch to caulk the seams of their wooden vessels. History says Noah caulked his
Ark with the pine products. The Phoenician mariners sailed in wooden ships likewise caulked. Thus, the term "Naval Stores was applied to the industry. Today, however, gum turpentine and rosin have usurped the title as both go into hundreds of com-
mercial products and both have many uses in their own right," the Core says.

"Pine trees are farmed. The forests are worked in crops, a crop being composed of 10,000 faces. Unlike the dirt farmer, the gum farmer doesn't have any spring plowing. He plows, however, but not to break the soil. He plows fire lines to protect his forests from the bugaboo of all timber-the woods fire. The gum farmer hasn't any seed to plant unless lie Wants tO Set Out saplings to reclaim idle, once-cultivated acres or those eroded.

"Nature sees to most of his re-seeding problems. He must certainly protect them though. Georgia is the largest producing state. Florida is next. Georgia produces 7497o of the country's annual production. The nation's gum crop has been valued as high as $6o,ooo,ooo.  Like all agriculture ventures, there have been lean seasons and healthy ones."

"Traditions of Turpentining in South Georgia is an oral history project of the South Georgia Folklife Project at Valdosta State University. It is developed from the perspective of the field of folklore and focuses on the occupational folklife of South Georgia turpentine workers," the Valdosta State University says.

"For much of the past century, Georgia was the nation's leading producer of gum naval stores, or the industry of extracting products such as turpentine and rosin from living pine trees. The last bucket of gum for commercial turpentine was dipped in the summer of 2001 in Treutlen County, Georgia. The end of domestic turpentining in the U.S. inspired the project team to interview former turpentine workers about their lives and traditions.

"The work of gathering and processing the raw gum was done chiefly by African American men, although countless European American small gum farmers turpentined on their own land or on land leased from others. These workers developed specialized knowledge, terminology, customs, and lore which folklorists call "occupational folklife." This site contains information gathered from 1998-2004 through background research, photographs, video, and oral interviews. It includes information on work in the woods and life in the turpentine camps told as told by those who lived it."

"Valdosta, city, seat (1860) of Lowndes county, southern Georgia, U.S., about 60 miles (100 km) northeast of Tallahassee, Florida. Troupville, the original town and county seat (1828, as Franklinville), was moved 4 miles (6 km) east in 1859 to the present site to be on the right-of-way of the area’s first railroad,"the Britannica says.

"The new town was named for Georgia Governor George M. Troup’s plantation, Val d’Osta (for the Italian region Valle d’Aosta). Valdosta is a rail and commercial centre for tobacco, timber, and cattle, with diversified manufacturing. It is also an important inland naval stores market, especially for turpentine.

"Tourism (based on numerous fishing lakes and rivers in the vicinity and on the Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area 10 miles [16 km] north) and Moody Air Force Base, 12 miles (19 km) northeast, also contribute to the economy. Valdosta State University was established in 1906. Inc. town, 1860; city, 1901. Pop. (2000) 43,724; Valdosta Metro Area, 119,560; (2010) 54,518; Valdosta Metro Area, 139,588."

"The American South in the popular imagination is often historically viewed as agricultural but that depth and scope of the agrarian output is often poorly-deÞned. One industry rooted in agrarian, or at least natural resource-based, production which seems largely forgotten today was the naval stores industry," the Academia.edu says.

"Taking its name and origins from the need for turpentine and derived products in the production and maintenance of wooden ships, this industry eventually produced turpentine and related products from the oleoresin of pine species common to the South, namely longleaf pine (Pinus  palustris) and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda).

"From central Florida into North Carolina and Virginia, pine species capable of producing resins which yielded quality turpentine were beyond plentiful in colonial America and answered a need for turpentine in shipyards. Interestingly, and for those in the industry thankfully, the need for turpentine-derived solvents only grew more diverse and stronger after the Civil War, despite naval architecture at this time moving towards metal and not wooden construction. By the early twentieth century, the naval stores industry had become one of the most-prominent in economic terms throughout the American South and was the dominant industry in parts of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama."

"The naval stores industry produces and markets products derived from the oleoresin of pine trees, including rosin, tall oil, pine oil, and terpentine. It does this by collecting and processing organic forest products refined from slash pine and longleaf pine trees (genus Pinus)," the Wikipedia says.



"The naval stores industry was associated with the maintenance of the wooden ships and sailing tackle of pre-20th century navies, which were caulked and waterproofed using the pitch (a product made with tar) of the pine tree. Today these pine compounds are used to manufacture soap, paint, varnish, shoe polish, lubricants, linoleum, and roofing materials.

"Because of a shortage of workers willing to perform the heavy manual labor involved in the streaking of many acres of trees and in collecting the resin tree by tree as well, the gum naval stores industry entered a period of steep decline beginning in the 1960s. As of 2001, only one large-scale facility (begun as Filtered Rosin Products) in Baxley, Georgia, continued in operation, serving the remaining naval stores producers in the surrounding area. Gradually, the method of tapping trees to obtain naval stores products has become overshadowed by industries which yield these products as byproducts of other operations."

"McCranie's Turpentine Still is a historic site in Willacoochee, Georgia. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 28, 1976. It is located west of Willacoochee on U.S. 82.

"The McCranie family worked in the turpentine industry prior to 1900 and continued for generations. This turpentine still was built in 1936, based on designs and methods from earlier eras. It was operated by three McCranie brothers. It ceased operation in 1942 when the two elder McCranie brothers went to war.

"The replacement of the fire distillation process by steam distillation and the labor shortage caused by World War II contributed to its closure. The still remains largely intact." (Wikipedia)