It’s a natural resource that drove an industry and European powers to send explorers on voyages to find it for naval stores. It gave North Carolina its “tarheel” nickname. And tomorrow at 10 a.m., Goose Creek State Park will give a demonstration, about how its harvest helped shape the region and beyond.

Park rangers Nicole Crider and Joe Hawley, and other staff, will host a tar kiln demonstration, showing how to harvest tar from dead limbs, stumps and other tree parts.

“We think it’s important to educate people on not only history, but how the resources and things were before,” Crider said. “It’s what put North Carolina on the map and shaped the entire southeast United States. It’s a really important piece of history. We want to focus on natural resources and recreation, but history is something each generation is losing. A lot of people have been born and raised here and don’t know what (tar) is.”

Crider said in the early 1700s, English settlers came looking for naval store sources in the area, including pitch, tar, turpentine and lumber. The resources they found in the area were valuable for shipbuilding. With an enormous supply of Longleaf pines — 11 million acres, historically — North Carolina became the prime spot for harvest of the resources, which eventually facilitated the construction of roads and other infrastructure.

The materials harvested in the area were the only known way to waterproof ships and eventually caused the Longleaf forests to be wiped out, Crider said. Since the early 1970s, in addition to over 55 kilns throughout the park, Goose Creek staff has found remnants of the booming industry, including a few surviving Longleaf pines.

“For us to still find old Longleaf pines, which is rare in these areas, it’s pretty cool,”

Crider said.

In the near future, the park will undergo a Longleaf pine restoration to bring the area back to its original state, Crider said.

“We’re really excited about the program,” Crider said. “We want to educate people on the importance of restoring it back to its original form, and we want to educate people on the Longleaf history and this is a fun way to do it—bringing history to life. This is what made us.”

Goose Creek State Park is located at 2190 Camp Leach Rd, Washington. For more information, call 252-923-2191. Attendees should meet at the Visitors Center.