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Date Range
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January 1, 1500 – January 1, 1850
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Title
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Firewood Shortage in the Northeast
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What occurred
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Beginning in the 16th century, Europe had experienced a firewood shortage, causing them to lose warmth, food, and their homes. These struggles were enough to drive the poorer class of England to travel to the Northeast of America to what, at the time, seemed like an endless supply of forest. Although they were new and terrifying, the forests of Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont had eventually been cut down in half. This firewood was a necessity, and the settlers were participating in strenuous amounts of work, especially compared to farming in England. Between 1500 and approximately 1850, they had gotten comfortable with cutting down trees, and started their new lives as farmers. They transformed the dark, untouched, virgin forests to bare farming land, and used it to build homes and raise other resourceful species of animals. The North American Forest Commission estimates that today, there are two thirds the amount of trees as there were in 1600, however, the expansion of the english farmers to the northeast allowed for one of the most significant farming advancements in American history.
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Location
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Dover Town Forest, East Dover, VT 05341
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Image Citation
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Earth Matters: How the English colonists transformed the forests of the Pioneer Valley, Daily Hampshire Gazette
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Student name(s)
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Sofia Barth
