Hundreds waited in line for more than two hours Saturday for a chance to get a live-edge slab of Montgomery County, Maryland, history.
At this year’s annual Urban Wood Sale, Montgomery County Parks sold pieces of the Linden Oak that was cut down in July after standing since the country’s birth.
“Just some kind of beautiful hardwood for the mantel that will be you know, like a real showstopper piece,” said Mary Lynn Simmons, who was standing in line, about what she was looking for at the wood sale.
She has slabs of walnut, cedar, pine, poplar, oak, beech, cherry, cypress and ash to choose from.
Live edge means it has unfinished edges — that rustic look — as opposed to a uniform piece of wood like a 2×4.
“I’d love to have a piece of history in my home,” said Simmons of the Linden Oak tree. “But there’s a lot of people in line.”
Remnants of the 100-foot-tall tree brought more than the usual group to the lumber facility on Turkey Thicket Drive in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Park officials said about four times the usual amount of buyers showed up, causing an hourslong wait to get a look at the live-edge wood.
Some shoppers, like Nike Carstarphen, were hoping to make furniture.
“I wanted a new dining room table, and wanted something unique and couldn’t afford what I found that was unique and beautiful, and different,” said Carstarphen about what pushed her to begin making live-edge tables with epoxy resin.
Carstarphen said she was looking for pieces that are “kind of gnarly, irregularly shaped.” She was later seen rummaging through piles of oak and black locust slabs.
She drove from Baltimore and was shocked by the hundreds — if not thousands — of folks who came out for the sale.
“I guess that’s a good thing that people are interested in live-edge wood,” she said.
County officials said their stock of the Linden Oak sold out in the first day, but they are saving some for next year.
The wood sale will continue on Sunday, from 8 a.m. to noon.
