In 1792, William Bartram reported in his book, Travels, the discovery of a native shagbark hickory nut that he called Juglans exaltata. Today, shagbark hickory is called Carya ovata. Bartram reported that this shagbark hickory grove was cultivated in groves by the Indians west of Augusta, Ga.
Bartram documented that he saw 100 bushels of shagbark hickory nuts that were stored at just a single Indian family home. The nuts were pounded into a mash, and then boiled in water, where a white, oily liquid separated called hickory milk. The liquid was described to be as sweet and rich as a fresh cream and was an active ingredient used by the Indians in cooking corn bread and hominy grits.
There remains some question whether or not the Indians near Augusta on the Altamaha River hickory groves as described by Bartram were actually planted as orchard trees or just harvested at a naturally located site. Many such productive groves occur along tidal creeks in Coastal Georgia, a few are left intact by land developers for the recreational value of the trees and the food value of the nuts that are gathered at one such Episcopal camp near Brunswick, Ga. along a tidal basin aquifer...
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