A newly engaged couple moved into a home on Peachstreet in downtown Goldsboro last year. They had no idea that their front yard was home to one of the state's largest loblolly pines.
Brandon Scott and Carlton Edmundson, who both grew up in Wayne County, decided to call the North Carolina Forest Service in Goldsboro to have them measure the tree's massive trunk.
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Officials determined that tree's circumference was 13.6 feet, and the pine stood 84 feet tall. Its crown spread was 77 feet — making it the fifth largest tree recorded in North Carolina.
That's the largest tree every recorded in Wayne County, the newspaper News Argus reported.
"We're going to be to be keeping it on file in case anything happened to the first, second, third or fourth place trees," Scott said.
Forestry officials believe the tree was able to grow so large after it was struck by lightning, Scott said. There's a large scar in the tree, and officials said that the pine was able to heal itself after getting struck.
The loblolly produces hundreds of pine cones a week, he said.
"Me and my fiancé actually joke around that [it is a] little bomber because it has almost hit us a few times while we have been working out in the yard," Scott said.