History

In the early days of South Florida from about 1880 to 1930, Dade County pine was the building material of choice. In many cases, they built their houses out of lumber milled from the trees that existed on the land. It was not protected and was cheap and readily available. The region experienced explosive growth through most of the 20th century. While many of these pines were cut for lumber, many more were wasted as land was cleared for development. these trees became protected, losses still occurred when powerful hurricanes swept across the peninsula. Today only tiny stands of Dade County pine trees still exist in land owned mostly by local municipalities in the southernmost counties of Florida