Several years ago a giant cypress log washed up on the beach here
in Destin. It is absolutely beautiful but had to be moved off the
beach and because it was so big it had to be cut into 4 pieces in
order to get it off the beach.
It's been stored at the Beach Cleaning yard ever since.
The Island King fell in love with it and decided it was something
he wanted. We got a call a few days ago that it had to go and if we
wanted it we needed to come and get it.
Which was a lot easier said than done. Each log weighs over 800
pounds and has to be cut with a really big chainsaw.
The Island King wanted to take the logs to Tower Camp so his
brother offered to help get them up there.
The first step was moving the logs to a place they could be cut
and then loaded onto a trailer.
So how do you move an 800 pound, 10 foot long log?
Once the logs were moved to a place we could cut them, they went
to work with the chainsaw.
These logs are absolutely stunning and must be at least 500 years
old.
We can only speculate about where this log came from but it's
obvious from the way the log was notched that it was cut at least 100
years ago in the days before chainsaws so we think it may have come
down the Apalachicola River on a logging boat, rolled off and somehow
– after MANY years – made it's way to Destin.
We cut some of the log into smaller pieces, left some pieces whole and my BIL put them on
his trailer and brought them to Tower Camp.
A few of them will be used for tables and one will be made into a
knife and axe throwing target.
I love having them up there and can't help but wonder how many
Indians rested under this giant tree all of those years ago.
It really is beautiful and I feel like we now have an “antique”
like no other. There is just something about that old log that speaks
to me. I wonder what I'll hear if I listen closely.