The Magnificent Mountain Poplar

PHOTOGRAPHER:

Issue:

03/2023

Because of their girth and height before branching out, tulip poplar was the most heavily logged species in the heyday of logging before Great Smoky Mountains National Park was created in 1934.

Known as the Bob Padgett Tree after the park ranger who saved the tree from felling, this massive tulip poplar can be found on Horse Cove Road near Highlands.

Cherokee and their ancestors favored long, straight-grained poplar logs for their dugout canoes. Fashioned with fire, the largest of these canoes could hold up to twelve people.

The Little River Lumber Co. left stumps of huge poplars throughout the headwaters of Lynn Camp Prong.

Tremont in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Many the colonists who settled in the mountains built their cabins of poplar because its logs were easily squared by saw, axe, and adze.

Poplar and white pine boards scattered around the Laurel Elk lumber yard in Watauga County.

The Bob Padgett Tulip Poplar.

Two-man cross-cut saws sometimes as long as eight feet were used to fell timber like this big poplar up in Linn Cove near Asheville's Reems Creek in 1937.

Modern furniture makers like Brian Boggs use a mixture of wood in their products, such as bar seats with maple legs and poplar tops.

The Crescent Table is made here in WNC.

Bar seats with maple legs and poplar tops by Brian Boggs.

Lily Table and Chair made here in WNC.

RESOURCES:

Photographs by Todd Pusser; courtesy of Great Smoky Mountains National Park; courtesy of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian; courtesy of Transylvania County Library; courtesy of the Watauga County Public Library; Rob Lumen Captum ; Nataly Studio; courtesy of D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville

ISSUE DATE:

Spring 2023

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The Magnificent Mountain Poplar

The Magnificent Mountain Poplar

The Magnificent Mountain Poplar