Constitution Grove: A Forest that Exists for a SINGLE Boat

In Southern Indiana, the United States Government has set aside a 53,000 acre forest for a singular purpose: to support the maintenance of ONE 227-year old warship. In this episode, we talk about purpose-planted forests, Constitution Grove and the history of the U.S.S. Constitution. 

This summer, I spent a week working on a cruise ship in Hawaii and as I was touring around Maui, some trees were pointed out to me. They look out of place. Among the volcanic mountains and lush vegetation, these tall, skinny pine trees stick up and really look out of place – particularly near the coast. They’re Norfolk Pines – some people call them Cook Pines. 

Those trees were specifically planted back in the late 1700s by Captain James Cook. Cook was a British Naval Officer, Explorer and Cartographer and it was important for ship captains to plan for the maintenance of their ships. He had discovered this particular type of pine in the Norfolk Islands and thought they would make great masts for ships. So as he sailed around the Pacific in the 1770s, he planted these tall Norfolk Pines with the idea that they could be used to replace broken masts on the ships. Well the idea didn’t work that well. First of all, Cook tried to kidnap Hawaiian Chief Kalani’ōpu’u and was killed in 1779. But the problem with the trees were that they grew too fast and the winds were too high on the island, so the wood grew without being strong enough and was too weak to be used for ships’ masts. In many cases, the trees would grow crooked from the wind as they were growing. These non-native trees still populate the Hawaiian islands.

In Sweden, there’s an island called Visingö, where the entire South East quarter of the island is covered in a giant beautiful oak forest and those trees are there for the sole purpose of providing lumber for ships. 300,000 of them were planted in the 1830s. In the UK, Lord Horatio Nelson called for the planting of oak trees in what’s known as the Trafalgar Oaks in the Forest of Dean. This was a fairly normal thing back then. But the problem was that in many cases, by the time these trees matured to the size that they would be most useful, ships were starting to be made with steel. This was in the 1880s and 1890s. 

So those trees were used much more sparingly than originally intended. They would only be taken down here or there if there was a repair that was needed on an aging wooden fleet. As those ships were decommissioned and scrapped, the forests wouldn’t be needed for ship building at all.

In the U.S., there were a few of these purpose-built forests as well. President John Quincy Adams had a 1,300 acre area designated for live oak tree farming in the late 1820s for the purpose of maintaining the United States Naval Fleet. It was near Pensacola, Florida, out on the Gulf Islands National Seashore. And just like in Europe, those trees hardly ever saw any use as the small U.S. wooden fleet was converted to steel warships. That forest still exists today, however and is protected by the National Parks Service as the Naval Live Oaks Preserve in the Gulf Islands National Seashore. 

But amazingly, one of these oak forests in the U.S. not only exists, but is still being used for it’s intended purpose. 

The U.S.S. Constitution is a 3-masted ship belonging to the United States Navy. In 1794, Congress had passed the Naval Act which authorized the building of six frigates. The threat at the time was to help protect against Barbary pirates, but also to protect our young nation so it could compete with European naval powers. Foreign relations were growing somewhat complicated – the French Revolutionary Wars were happening and as America was building international trade routes by sea, the shipping lanes needed protection from both piracy and foreign interference.

Joshua Humphreys was the shipbuilder that designed and built these six ships in a Boston shipyard and the U.S.S. Constitution was unique because it was built to be faster and more powerful than any other ships at the time. It could carry up to 44 guns, which was unheard of. He built the hull out of live oak layered with white oak, which are are incredibly dense and sturdy woods. Cannons at the time were barely powerful enough to pierce this wood hull. She was commissioned in 1797 by George Washington, who was also the person who named her. 

The ship became famous during The War of 1812 where the U.S.S. Constitution was part of several key naval battles with Great Britain. A couple months after the war formally began, the Constitution was under the leadership of Captain Isaac Hull. He was sailing her off the coast of New Jersey and attempting to meet up with a fleet of five other American ships. After he located what he thought was the formation of ships and sailed toward them, he realized he had sailed toward a formation of five British ships that were coming out of Halifax. This led to a slow-motion, 57-hour chase. The U.S.S Constitution was fleeing back to Boston and was only able to escape the fleet by dumping a bunch of stuff overboard to lose weight. A few weeks later after arriving safe at port, the Constitution earned her nickname when she sailed back north toward Halifax.

She had sailed toward Nova Scotia to push back against a British naval blockade and encountered a frigate, the H.M.S. Gurriere. This was one of the ships that had been spotted in the 5-ship squadron the previous month. The two exchanged cannon fire. The Gurriere’s cannons basically bounced off of the U.S.S. Constitution, which is how she got her nickname, “Old Ironsides.” The cannon fire from the Constitution broke one of the British ship’s masts and as the mast was being dragged in the water, it slowed her down. The ships became entangled and the remaining masts were shot away. The crew of the H.M.S. Gurriere surrendered, the U.S.S. Constitution had her first victory and a life-long nickname was earned. 

There were several other key battles that the ship was part of throughout the War of 1812. But even after that war, Old Ironsides continued to see use. The ship was decommissioned and recommissioned several times throughout numerous conflicts. By the time of the civil war, she was the only one remaining of those original six frigate ships. She had been refitted to house union soldiers and even have floating classrooms on board. But the ship was constantly under threat by the Confederates. Nevertheless, the ship remained in service and acted as a training vessel for our naval forces out of Philadelphia. 

Because she was no longer valuable for battle in a world of steel-hulled ships, the government really didn’t know what to do with the Constitution. She had been saved from the scrapyard multiple times by being refitted, upgraded and repurposed. In 1896, the ship was sent to the Charleston Navy Yard in Boston and in 1905 she was about to be used for target practice out at sea, but was once again saved – this time by a Congressional Authorization for her full restoration and conversion into a museum. 

So that was 119 years ago and the ship is STILL around and STILL being maintained. Throughout the history of Old Ironsides, there have been many restorations and upgrades, and that brings us to – this can’t be right – Southern Indiana?

Yes – in Southern, Indiana, near a town called Crane, there’s a giant – and I mean giant Naval Support Facility. It’s called Naval Support Activity Crane, or NSA Crane. The facility’s main purpose is the storage and testing of armament, but it’s located on a gigantic piece of land that is filled with grove of 53,000 acres of White Oak trees. This location is 750 miles from the nearest ocean, and even though this Navy Base serves an incredibly high-tech mission, the grove of trees is serving a mission that’s the exact opposite of high-tech.

The forest is known as “Constitution Grove” and its sole purpose is providing lumber to maintain and replace parts of the U.S.S. Constitution. Here’s Trent Osman, who works as a Forester at NSA Crane and Constitution Grove. 

The most recent major overhaul to the ship happened in 2017 and at that point, they dry-docked the ship and harvested 35 trees from Constitution Grove to replace aging hull planks. To use up all the trees in the 53,000 acres, the ship would have to last until the year 4536. I’m just kidding, I didn’t do that math. But there’s no way possible the ship will outlast this forest. It’s like having the world’s largest cow farm on hand to provide leather to make seats for a single car. The ship’s future is safe because of the efforts of the Navy and the foresters who work at the Crane facility. 

The ship still exists because it’s used as a tool to help the public understand the Navy’s role in war and peace. When it’s not on display birthed at Pier 1 of Charleston Navy Yard in Boston, she occasionally sails for special occasions and even still ceremonially fires the cannons. Because of the existence of Constitution Grove and the hard working people who keep both the forest and the ship in service, the U.S.S. Constitution is the oldest commissioned naval warship afloat in the entire world. The Internet Says it’s True.

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