Tung Blossom 5K Walk/Run & 1 Mile Fun Run
 

Saturday, April 5, 2008
Hosted by the Gulf Coast Running Club
www.GulfCoastRunningClub.org

Click to Download Application*
or
email:  5krun-walk@picayunemainstreet.com

Picayune Main Street, Inc. Board of Directors voted to name the 1st Annual Tung Blossom 5 K Run/Walk after the history of the Tung Nut Tree in Pearl River County.

From 1937-1969, the City of Picayune and County of Pearl River in South Mississippi were known as the Tung Oil Center of the World with 60,000 acres of Tung Trees planted.

The Tung Tree originated in China. The leaves on the tree are the shape of a heart. Translation for tung in Chinese is heart. Fruit produced by the tree is shaped like a ball with a very hard shell and is very poisonous. Beautiful clusters of pink blossoms (see picture above) bloom in early Spring and the fallen petals resemble snow on the ground below the trees. Lamont Rowlands acquired tung seeds in 1928 and planted 6,000 acres in cut over pine land.

In 1935, L.O. Crosby, Sr. began crushing the oil from the tung nut for paint in his Plants. By 1937, Tung Trees covered 60,000 acres in Pearl River County until 1969, when Hurricane Camille's devastating winds destroyed the trees and tung nut industry.  There still remain traces of the Tung Nut Trees throughout  the area.




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