Pine forests, or "barrens," were mentioned in nearly all diaries and travel accounts of those who passed through the region during the colonial period. In September 1752 Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg, scouting for a place for a Moravian settlement, wrote in his diary: "In Chowan and Bertie Counties one can ride for three hours without seeing anything except Pine Barrens, that is white sand grown up in pine trees." In 1791 George Washington described a similar pine-dominated landscape as he traveled south through the state along the "King's Highway," an ancient colonial route (now largely U.S. 17).
Also known by names such as longstraw and pitch, the longleaf pine formed an ecosystem that once may have covered 90 million acres in the Southeast, though fewer than 3 million acres remain in the region. There are currently many efforts to restore the endangered longleaf ecosystem, including projects and programs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, the Longleaf Alliance, located at Auburn University's Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center in southern Alabama, was formed in 1995 to coordinate the efforts of various conservation groups and agencies seeking to reestablish the longleaf and some of the habitat it provided.
In 1963 the North Carolina General Assembly designated the pine as the official state tree. Though enthusiasts debate whether the assembly meant the loblolly or the longleaf pine, the latter is generally assumed to have been intended because of its appearance in North Carolina art and poetry as well as its mention in the first line of the state toast: "Here's to the Land of the Long Leaf Pine."