Friendship Star

 

In the 1830’s, in the aftermath of the destruction of the Napoleonic wars, the Swedish navy planted 300,000 oak saplings to be used in ship building in the far distant future. They chose Visingsö, an island in the southern end of Lake Vättern for their man-made forest. Alongside all those oak trees, they planted various other species such as ash, elm, maple, beech, and silver fir, so the oak saplings would be encouraged to grow up straight and tall. It takes at least a century and a half for oaks to mature enough to be useful in building ships. But by the time these trees were ready, the naval industry had already transitioned to iron and steel construction. The oaks of the Visingsö forest will probably never sail the seven seas, but many of them may become beautiful hardwood flooring, fine veneers, exquisite Scandinavian furniture, and even whiskey barrels.