KRISTEN DE GRAAUW GINNY NEIL Kristen de Graauw's passion is learning the age of the wood in old structures, thus unlocking mysteries about the people who built them. By GINNY NEIL s you drive the curvy roads of any rural county in the Southern Appalachians, you are witness to history that has disappeared from the more developed areas of the East Coast. You can spot it in old equipment rusting away in weeds at the edges of farm fields or see it in the shape and line of old buildings, but Dr. Kristen de Graauw, dendroarchaeologist and owner of Historic Timbers, is looking for even older history-the stories of the ancient mountain forests. A She is searching in the most unlikely of places. She says the stories are locked in the last remaining log buildings of the American frontier. As she puts it, " I see these buildings as stands of trees-stands that no longer exist. " De Graauw came to this passion in a rather roundabout way. " I had an ordinary upbringing. I read books and rode my LEFT: At Loafer's Glory in Pendleton County, West Virginia, de Graauw's work revealed new facts about the barn and house, and about the forest that provided the logs. ABOVE LEFT: The historic home place of Pearl S. Buck's father was dismantled and moved to the Pearl S. Buck Museum. ABOVE RIGHT: De Graauw inspects each log in the James Wellard barn as she determines where to take her samples. RIGHT: A core sample from a tree felled in the 1800's emerges into the 21st century. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 41 GINNY NEIL TERESA AND JEFF MUNN