[bright music] - [Narrator] Not far from Pinehurst, the 915 acres that make up the Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve give visitors a trip back in time as they hike and explore the park's forest, a forest that was once dominated by our state's signature tree, the longleaf pine.

For historians Ray Owen and Earl Ijames, the arrival of spring reveals the history that embodies the longleaf pines of Weymouth Woods.

Their hike includes a visit to the park's oldest resident.

- Hey, look Ray, there's our old buddy right there.

- Oh yeah, this is the oldest-known longleaf pine in the world, in the universe.

- Yeah, my old friend.

It's so good to see you.

- Yeah, and here we are on the first day of spring.

- [Earl] Yeah, this is a real treat.

And he's glad to see us too, Ray.

- [Ray] I think so, Earl.

We gotta hug this sucker.

- We gotta hug him, yeah.

- Yeah, man.

- Hey, man.

- Waiting for us.

- All right.

How you doing?

- You know we have, around Earth Day every year, the Sandlanders here, we have- - It is a beautiful tree.

- It is beautiful, but we have the birthday party for the oldest pine and we come out here and they'll be like 100 people and we all come out and hug the tree.

- [Earl] She, he is celebrating about 450.

- No, over 475.

- 475, great.

- So when they cored the tree, they cored it kind of about here, maybe.

It was kind of higher up, I don't remember the exact spot.

UNCG came and did it, but the tree is probably older because, when you think about it, for it to get this high, how long did that take?

That might have been, you know, 10 years, 20 years.

Round timber is the local name for trees that have stood the test of time.

And if you look over to our right here, you see the white blaze on the trees.

And these are marked for the red-cockaded woodpecker.

And they're the only woodpecker that bores into living pines.

And what happens is the resin will run down, what people call sap, and it prevents varmits from getting in to disturb the nest.

And so the blaze is when, the fire ecology here, everything has to have fire to feed the forest to keep it alive and the blaze is so that they don't burn up the tree during a controlled burn.

- [Narrator] While numerous pine tree species fill North Carolina state lands, the distinctive longleaf pine is easy to identify.

- So the long needles on the longleaf pine tree is it's distinct signature.

The needles can range anywhere from eight inches to 16 inches, and length depending on the phenotypes, these particular kind that grow in the Boyd Tract will have this signature distinct longleaf, like this grass stage emerging into a rocket stage longleaf pine tree.

And you can see the distinct candle that's emerging here.

[bright music] If you're walking along on one of the trails at Weymouth Woods and you come upon a longleaf pine tree with an unusual looking scar on it, well, you are witnessing history.

In this case, this is evidence of real tar heels, or someone who worked this tree for turpentine, tar, and pitch about 125 or 150 years ago.

So you might say, "Well, what do you have in your hand there, Earl Ijames?"

Good question, this is a boxing ax, a tool of the tar heels.

And this would've been used on the first day of spring, like we have now.

When the sap begins to flow up from the tree, turpentine season begins, on the equinox.

And this boxing ax would've been wielded between the bark of this tree to inject about a three- or four-foot wound, as you can see in this tree, so that it exposes the cambium layer.

- [Earl] The thing to remember about this particular tract, a lot of effort, a lot of science is going in to try to bring it back.

[bright music] - The Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve is at 1024 North Fort Bragg Road in Southern Pines, and it's open daily.

To find out more, go to ncparks.gov, and to learn more about the Year of the Trail, go to greattrailsnc.com.