The Chesapeake
Pieces
John Smith's 1612 map of the Chesapeake Bay. Engraving by William Hole, London; 1624. West is at the top in Smith's rendering of the region.
U.S. Library of Congress, digital ID: http://hdl.loc.gov/gmd/g3880.ct000377.
Our Chesapeake Pieces are crafted from wood reclaimed from three regional trees that were listed in the Maryland Big Tree Registry. Each of these champion trees was more than 350 years old when it was felled.
St. Paul's Oak
This Swamp Chestnut Oak (Quercus michauxii) stood for nearly four centuries on the grounds of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kent County, MD. In 1930 the tree was listed as one of Maryland’s four remaining “Penn’s Woods Trees”—thought to have been alive in 1632 when William Penn arrived in the New World.
In 2010, American Forests designated the tree as a United States Champion, the largest of its species in the nation. The tree was cut down on December 9, 2015.
(MD Big Tree Registry BT–0246)
The PacMan Tree
This Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata) stood for more than 360 years in Stevensville on Kent Island. The tree was torn apart by a tornado spawned from a summer storm in 2017.
(MD Big Tree Registry BT–0157)
The Druid Hill Osage
This Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) stood in Baltimore's Druid Hill Park near the Maryland Zoo. In 1860, the tree was already so impressive that planners chose to bend Greenspring Avenue around the tree rather than cut it down. Just before Halloween 2012, 70 mile-per-hour winds from Superstorm Sandy took down the landmark tree.
(MD Big Tree Registry BT–2091)
Custom Bases for The Chesapeake Pieces
Our Chesapeake tables and benches feature custom bases crafted by G. Krug & Son Ironworks in Baltimore, the oldest continuously operating blacksmith and ironworks in the country. Since 1810, Krug & Son has manufactured beautiful high-quality ornamental iron and metal products in their brick foundry building on Saratoga Avenue. Krug's influence can be found all along the East Coast, but, most notably, all over the Chesapeake Bay area.
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Osage orange table (left foreground) and bench (above):
Bases forged and fabricated by Christian Cain, G. Krug & Son, Baltimore, MD.
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TreeUnions will donate 10% of the sale price of each Chesapeake Piece to the Maryland Forestry Foundation to support education and conservation programs of the Maryland Association of Forest Conservation District Boards.
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