Home to some of the finest hardwoods on the globe, Allegheny Plateau in Pennsylvania is also home to the Hickman Woods Family of Companies. These companies include Hickman Lumber, Hickman Timber Management, and Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring.
Based in Emlenton on the Allegheny River, the Hickman family has spent generations refining their expertise in producing premium hardwood lumber and flooring aimed at a select market that supports the planet and its fragile ecology in several ways. Starting as the adventure of a lifetime in the 1930s, when Harry and Eleanor Hickman opted to elope and set up home in the woods, the company is every bit as visionary now as its two young founders were back then.
On all the best floors
Thanks to its time-honored traditions in woodland cultivation and flooring fabrication, the company’s products feature in notable buildings across the country.
These include products like its Oak Gryphon Corded herringbone, utilized in Trump Tower in New York City. More recently, there was an installation in the Vice President’s mansion in Washington, DC. The company even provided hardwood flooring for Chicago’s Obama National Library and the Palmer Art Museum at the Pennsylvania State University, while another modern art museum in Buffalo, New York features the company’s exquisite red oak floors that are fast becoming tremendously popular.
By cultivating a sustainable, regenerative, carbon-sequestering material with a lifespan of over a century, the hardwood floors produced by the Hickman Woods Family of Companies are far more than just a luxury commodity. They are an absolute no-brainer for conscientious designers and homeowners looking to do their part for the environment and future generations.
Add to this that when the material’s lifespan does reach its end, it naturally degrades back into a mulch that feeds the earth. That process is in stark contrast to other types of flooring like “luxury” vinyl tile that, to date, have not become food for any living organism and instead simply suffocate soil in landfills when their lifespan is complete, while adding to the carbon issue.
Hardwood floors, in addition to being a rich source of nutrition for soil after 100-plus years in a home, are proven to aid human well-being and even recovery alongside other natural design components, explains Jessica Hickman Fresch, Marketing Director. Therefore, its use in biophilic design is far more important than its overall trend value; using responsibly treated wood in homes provides an actual health benefit.
A family with a love for wood…
Working with his father, Harry Hickman, since he was “big enough to pick up a board,” Larry Hickman gained experience working for other sawmills when he came of age before eventually joining his father’s business. There was no initial plan to turn the company into a generational company when he joined. That happened organically, when Larry’s son, Dennis Hickman, now President, joined Larry in the firm in 1980 when he set up the company’s dry kilns. Early in the new millennium, he founded the flooring outfit, Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring.
His son, Jake Hickman, joined in 2008, after studying at State College and spending some years in Baltimore’s construction industry. Jessica Hickman Fresch majored in International Business and Spanish and joined the family business in 2012 after studying, traveling abroad, and working in various sales and marketing positions in Argentina and Atlanta, Georgia.
Like Larry before them, neither of the siblings were new to the business when they joined its ranks. Jake had spent most of his free time working in the sawmill as a youngster and Jessica passed a lumber grading course after being stationed in the woods to learn everything there was to learn about the cultivation of these woods. In the process, while also being guided by her father and grandfather’s significant understanding of forests, Jessica came to learn that genuinely healthy, regenerative timberlands are only really possible with the support of humans.
“A healthy, working forest is not one that’s just left alone,” she says. “If you’re growing a garden and you throw a bunch of tomato seeds out, your kid can grow some tomatoes. But it’s not a healthy garden. By having us there to help manage it, pull out the weeds, you’re going to have a healthier crop. And that’s what a forest is.” And, thanks to the tireless commitment to creating and maintaining healthy forests, Pennsylvania’s timberlands are in better condition now than they were a century ago.
As a result of this outstanding stewardship, and the fact that Pennsylvania was clearcut after the civil war, trees are naturally coming to the end of their time here faster than they are being felled for use. “We have trees that are dying faster than we’re harvesting them. Carbon goes back into the atmosphere, so you’re wasting that product that you could use to store carbon in the form of flooring,” Jessica says.
As a result of generations choosing to continue their predecessors’ legacy, Hickman Woods has remained a family business in the best sense of the word. “I’ve always been proud of our timberland. The flooring shows off the resource, from the acorn to the finished product,” says Larry Hickman.
This pride is reflected in the fact that the company never cuts down the entirety of any specific species merely in response to market demand; instead, it respects the forests’ diversity, leaving ample seed trees intact to secure a sustainable future.
… And a feeling for forests
In the 1960s, Larry had the vision to purchase vast swathes of woodlands—land that he knew how to tend optimally as he had spent his life paying attention to nature and learning how to help a forest grow by noting, in acute detail, how the wild does it and how to improve on that. By sticking to the knowledge he acquired during those days, he refined his expertise. “It might be hard for some people to see, but if you pay attention, you can pick up a lot of different things that you wouldn’t see otherwise,” he says.
Today, the Hickman Woods Family of Companies cares for its forests in ways many formal protection organizations do not quite grasp the depth of. For instance, when it comes to its Forest Stewardship Council certification, inspectors never fail to be amazed by the level of regeneration of the company’s trees.
“The way that the Hickman team manages our forest is different than the management for forest regeneration that is taught at the forestry schools. Our grandfather just figured it out by spending a lot of hours in the woods. That’s been a blessing,” says Jessica.
Red Oak, White Oak
As part of the company’s drive to combat hyper-consumerism in the design industry through sustainable, long-lasting hardwood flooring, it is making red oak increasingly popular. More affordable than its famous sibling, white oak, and yet every bit as beautiful and hard-wearing, the use of this richly hued oak is on an undeniable rise. And not a moment too soon, either, as red oak is readily available and brings superb wear and warmth to any space it is used in.
Ultimately, the only relevant difference between these two darlings of the design industry is that American white oak is highly prized for the typically sweeter vanilla flavors it adds to bourbon and even wine, leading to its export to wine-growing regions around the world as far afield as South Africa, where barrels made from this wood are used to achieve bolder flavor profiles in comparison to French barrels, which impart softer flavors.
As a result, the high demand of these industries significantly adds to the price of white oak, leading consumers to (mistakenly) believe that it is somehow of a higher quality than red oak. Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to flooring, however. While many still conjure up mental pictures of 1980s and 1990s-style red oak floors, designers in the know are opting for the company’s Rift & Quarter Sawn and Live Sawn cuts, which deliver much more current styles, great widths, and long length flooring options at a tremendous value compared to the white oak prices.
By educating designers with in-person tours through its timberlands to help them understand what an effect specifying red oak over white has on overall forest health, the company is leading a slow yet certain shift in flooring trends. However, while sales are growing consistently, the trade is not without its challenges.
Community against fire
The ever-present danger of fire became a reality at the company’s sawmill on September 28 this year. Despite the damage wrought, its kilns and the rest of its outfit remained untouched, allowing Hickman Woods to continue business as usual while having its lumber processed a few miles away at another sawmill with the assistance of its team.
Without the support of others in the industry, however, this transition from destruction to flow would not have been so straightforward. “People in this industry are so nice. Everybody understands where you’re coming from,” says Jake, sharing the family’s gratitude for the kind and selfless assistance they have received from neighbors and allies in the trade.
Doing its fair share for local community organizations, including the volunteer fire department, Hickman Woods Family of Companies is all about family—just like its name suggests. And that includes its staff. With its legacy of endurance, tenacity, and an authentic sense of stewardship toward nature and the broader industry, the company’s steady growth will no doubt continue for years to come. Like a fabled redwood, this family business continues evolving while growing tall and strong.
