So it has been an exciting month or so in developing the research on the house, and in the process for nominating the house to the National Register of Historic Places... I have had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with two of LM Autrey's Grandchildren, Katherine Autrey Quinn, and Gill Autrey, as well as Gill Autrey's son also named Gill. They have been kind enough to provide some new pictures of LM and Lelia, and Gill provided a great narrative on what he knew of Latta and Lelia. I also was able to speak with members of the McCree family, who still own and run McCree construction in Orlando, started by W. A. McCree, who was a friend and employee of Latta Autrey, and worked for the original constuctor of 717 North, as well as rebuilding the home after it was damaged in a fire in late 1912.
My research has taken me through the long leaf pine forests of the Carolinas, Georigia, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, Ive followed threads and paper trails left by the Armistead, Autrey, and McCree families from the late 1800s through the 1940s. Ive found tantalizing glimpses of high flying pre-depression industrialism in newspapers and trade journals referencing business meetings in New Orleans with Walter Gillican and Buckner Chipley, the southern equivalents of the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and Duponts of their day. To say it has been interesting is a gross understatement... Through all this the long leaf pine has remained a constant, tying the story together. That amazing species built the fortunes of all these families, the Autrey-Williams house both literally and figuratively, and played such a pivotal role in the development of SouthEast Texas, sadly not one acre of old growth long leaf pine forest remains in Texas, the richness of its flesh and blood proving too great a temptation to the people around it. You can see a condensed version of all my research at:
http://www.717north.com/L_M_Autrey.html
I also received the official notice from the Texas Historical Commission that the house and all my research, pictures, blood sweat and tears, haha, will be examined next month by the Board of Review, hopefully, on the nomination documents, I was able to capture the amazing story the house tells of the region, the long leaf pine, and the families who have lived there.
One thing I love about history is the humbling nature of it, I always turn introspective when looking at time in such large chunks...
I'm reading a book called "Looking for Longleaf" which chronicles the history of the old growth forests which once covered all of the Southeastern United States, it notes that as early as the 1850s, one traveler made the following observation "The time is not far distant when these stately monarchs of the forest... will have been borne down by the unwearied worker at their feet and not one vestige of their former glory will remain" and the tears of rosin dripping from wounds on their trunks was described by one conservationist as follows "Aye well may you weep melancholy tree, for your days are numbered".
While the long leaf pine forests truly helped build the world we now enjoy, I hope that we can learn from their abuse, and be better stewards our God given resources moving forward. I leave you with a haunting poem written in the early 1900s by Anne McQueen, particularly haunting if you've ever stood in a pine forest, hearing nothing but the sound of your own heart, and the noise the wind makes through countless needles:
Listen! The great trees call to each other:
"Is it come your time to die, my brother?"
And through the forest, wailing and moaning,
The hearts of the pines, in their branches groaning-
"We die, we die!"
"We, who have watched the centuries dying,
The span of years as an arrow flying,
Ages seeming a day and a morrow;
Lo, we have reached the time of our sorrow-
We die, we die!"
"We, who have stood with our ranks unbroken,
Breasting the storms, a sign and a token
That the gale must cease; and the wild winds staying,
Man, we shielded, is come, and is slaying-
We die, we die!"
"Flaying the bark, and our bodies baring;
Like dim white ghosts in the moonlight staring,
Naked we stand, with the life sap welling-
Tears of resin, to gather for selling-
We die, we die!"
All over the land are the forests dying,
One piece of silver a tree life buying.
Listen! The great trees moan to each other:
"The Axe has scarred me too, my brother-
We die, we die!"
My research has taken me through the long leaf pine forests of the Carolinas, Georigia, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, Ive followed threads and paper trails left by the Armistead, Autrey, and McCree families from the late 1800s through the 1940s. Ive found tantalizing glimpses of high flying pre-depression industrialism in newspapers and trade journals referencing business meetings in New Orleans with Walter Gillican and Buckner Chipley, the southern equivalents of the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and Duponts of their day. To say it has been interesting is a gross understatement... Through all this the long leaf pine has remained a constant, tying the story together. That amazing species built the fortunes of all these families, the Autrey-Williams house both literally and figuratively, and played such a pivotal role in the development of SouthEast Texas, sadly not one acre of old growth long leaf pine forest remains in Texas, the richness of its flesh and blood proving too great a temptation to the people around it. You can see a condensed version of all my research at:
http://www.717north.com/L_M_Autrey.html
I also received the official notice from the Texas Historical Commission that the house and all my research, pictures, blood sweat and tears, haha, will be examined next month by the Board of Review, hopefully, on the nomination documents, I was able to capture the amazing story the house tells of the region, the long leaf pine, and the families who have lived there.
One thing I love about history is the humbling nature of it, I always turn introspective when looking at time in such large chunks...
I'm reading a book called "Looking for Longleaf" which chronicles the history of the old growth forests which once covered all of the Southeastern United States, it notes that as early as the 1850s, one traveler made the following observation "The time is not far distant when these stately monarchs of the forest... will have been borne down by the unwearied worker at their feet and not one vestige of their former glory will remain" and the tears of rosin dripping from wounds on their trunks was described by one conservationist as follows "Aye well may you weep melancholy tree, for your days are numbered".
While the long leaf pine forests truly helped build the world we now enjoy, I hope that we can learn from their abuse, and be better stewards our God given resources moving forward. I leave you with a haunting poem written in the early 1900s by Anne McQueen, particularly haunting if you've ever stood in a pine forest, hearing nothing but the sound of your own heart, and the noise the wind makes through countless needles:
Listen! The great trees call to each other:
"Is it come your time to die, my brother?"
And through the forest, wailing and moaning,
The hearts of the pines, in their branches groaning-
"We die, we die!"
"We, who have watched the centuries dying,
The span of years as an arrow flying,
Ages seeming a day and a morrow;
Lo, we have reached the time of our sorrow-
We die, we die!"
"We, who have stood with our ranks unbroken,
Breasting the storms, a sign and a token
That the gale must cease; and the wild winds staying,
Man, we shielded, is come, and is slaying-
We die, we die!"
"Flaying the bark, and our bodies baring;
Like dim white ghosts in the moonlight staring,
Naked we stand, with the life sap welling-
Tears of resin, to gather for selling-
We die, we die!"
All over the land are the forests dying,
One piece of silver a tree life buying.
Listen! The great trees moan to each other:
"The Axe has scarred me too, my brother-
We die, we die!"
