Welcome to our non-profit organization. Here you will learn about New York City’s history through its old buildings and bridges.
New York City is the largest repository for historical timbers from the late 17th century to the early 20th century extracted from old-growth forests in the United States. Every year a considerable portion of this old wood re-emerges during the renovation and demolition process in NYC. These timbers contain valuable information about past climate and ecological change in their tree rings that can provide a history of infrastructure development of NYC. These timbers have also large potential to be repurposed for new uses. Despite their value, most historical timbers are consigned to overcrowded landfills contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Since the old-growth forests from which these timbers were extracted have largely been decimated in the eastern US, these wood relics represent the only way to recover this information. Given how quickly and frequently old timbers from demolished buildings are removed and discarded, it is urgent to recover these valuable samples before they are lost.
Longleaf pine - Texas
