A Living Piece of History

Two of our favorite details at The Hub, Point Hope’s information center, are the beautiful live edge shelves in the presentation gallery and conference room, created from a stunning piece of cypress that tells quite a story, if you look closely enough.

The 500 year old tree was originally located in central South Carolina. It fell around the turn of the century but 50 years before that, sometime around 1850, someone climbed the tree with the intention of cutting it down. There are old springboard cuts in the slab from where they tried to saw through the wood. For some reason, they didn’t finish cutting it down and the tree continued to grow for another 50 to 75 years, as deciphered from the growth around the springboard cuts.

When the cypress was actually cut down around 1920, it was floated on the Savannah River en route to the Argent Lumber Company in Hardeeville, SC. There is a hole in the slab where the ropes pulled the tree in the river but while in transit, the tree sank. For 100 years, the cypress remained at the bottom of the Savannah River. You can see where the river water wore away some of the wood at the base of the tree.

The tree was finally pulled from the river in 2018 and taken to Ashley River Lumber in Ridgeville, SC where it was milled into slabs. SMHa Inc., the architecture firm that designed the Hub, discovered the slabs and had them finished by Lowcountry Case and Millwork. Today, the live edge shelves are just one of the thoughtful design elements at our information center.

Stop by one day soon to explore the rest!