PRIVATE LANDS, PUBLIC BENEFIT. As longtime Mainers, the Pingree family feels strongly about continuing the tradition of responsible public use of private forestlands.
No. 10 Pingree Heirs
830,000 acres
In addition to founding one of the country’s oldest timber empires, Salem shipping merchant David Pingree ranks as a forward-thinker on a par with Henry Ford and Bill Gates. In the early 1840s, Pingree sensed that the golden age of the clipper ship was coming to an end. With that in mind, the Merchant Prince of Salem acquired his first tract of Maine timberland in 1841. He subsequently acquired landholdings in over 100 different Maine townships as well as in Kentucky, Ohio, New Hampshire, Texas, and Wisconsin. His landholdings ultimately exceeded 1 million acres. Today, Pingree lands are consolidated in Maine, owned by fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-generation family members, and managed by Seven Islands Land Co. Through affiliated companies, Seven Islands Land produces lumber (Maine Woods Company); birch, oak, and maple flooring (Moosewood Millworks); and wood chips (Portage Wood Products).
Click here to see the 2017 class of America’s largest landowners.
