| 1932 | U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) establishes the Naval Stores Station in Olustee National Forest, Florida |
| 1935 | Enactment of the Social Security Act, which excludes agricultural labor |
| 1936 |
Establishment of the American Turpentine Farmers Association (ATFA) at a meeting of gum naval stores producers in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 18 |
| Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act passes; creation of the Naval Stores Conservation Program, which appropriates funds for gum naval stores price support |
| 1937 | United States produces 53% of rosin and turpentine worldwide |
| First annual meeting of ATFA, Valdosta, Georgia, on April 21 |
| ATFA initiates the Gum Turpentine National Advertising Campaign |
| ATFA contracts with G&A Laboratories, Inc. to research new uses for turpentine on October 1 |
| 1938 | Development of the "Olustee process", which uses steam in the distillation process; K.S. Varn & Company of Hoboken, Georgia is the first plant to employ this process |
| Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 allows price support for turpentine; ATFA becomes the field administrator for gum naval stores price support, administering the Gum Naval Stores Loan and Purchase Program for Commodity Credit Corporation |
| ATFA publishes first edition of AT-FA Journal |
| 1939 | Numerous county agencies in Georgia and Florida adopt gum spirits of turpentine as a solvent for use in paint jobs on public properties |
| Charles Capers Rice establishes a rival cooperative, the Gum Turpentine Farmers Cooperative Association |
| Practice of packaging turpentine in small containers instead of drawing it from barrels makes the use of turpentine more convenient |
| New labels for turpentine bottles, "ATFA Seal of Approval" |
| 1940 | Amendments to the Social Security Act repeal exemptions for naval stores from paying Social Security taxes |
| Time features ATFA in an article about the turpentine industry in April |
| First "Miss Gum Spirits of Turpentine" crowned at the ATFA annual convention |
| 1941 | Frazier-Lempke Act declares turpentine workers are "farmers" |
| 1942 | Turpentine farmers begin using acids to stimulate turpentine production |
| Gum Turpentine Farmers Cooperative Association becomes a member of ATFA in August |
| Launch of the Nationwide Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Campaign |
| 1943 | ATFA terminates their research contract with G&A Laboratories, Inc. on January 1 |
| Approval of a new ATFA label and design of a new glass bottle, which wins an award at the All American Packaging Competition |
| Centralized gum turpentine distillery built in Valdosta, Georgia |
| Turpentine gum producers no longer subject to Georgia Workmen’s Compensation Act |
| 1944 | Naval stores caravans travel through the turpentine belt to encourage producers to make more turpentine for the war effort |
| Turpentine and Rosin Factors, Inc. opens in Valdosta, Georgia |
| First public screening of Suwanee Pine at the Ritz Theatre in Valdosta, Georgia |
| 1946 | Turpentine & Rosin Factors, Inc. licenses Tandrotine, a petroleum thinner used as a substitute for turpentine |
| Laborers move from turpentine camps to pulpwood operations, creating a huge labor shortage for turpentine operations, which continues through the 1950s |
| 1949 | The gum naval stores industry produces a 43 million dollar income with over eight thousand gum producers, proving it is still "an important segment of the economy of the South" |
| ATFA sponsors the first 4-H Club Naval Stores Camp at the Lowndes County 4-H Camp |
| Georgia state representative John W. Langdale initiates a proposal for a bill in 1949 to change Georgia from the "Peach State" to the "Turpentine State" |
| In November, the American Legion Convention in Philadelphia features a gum turpentine float carrying ATFA sample bottles |
| Peak of gum production |
| Georgia experiences the highest numbers of wildfires in a decade inspiring the production of Fire Call, a color film, by the Georgia Forestry Commission about protection against forest fires |
| 1950s | Turpentine production declines rapidly and producers begin turning to other industries |
| 1950 | 8,863 gum producers in the U.S. |
| Valdosta chemists Woody Allen and Rene Bernard, Jr., create new plastic standards, to replace glass standards, for judging rosin color |
| Congress removes the exemption of agricultural labor from the Social Security Act, except for turpentine employees |
| circa 1951 | Establishment of the Equipment Development Project, in Gainesville, Florida, to research more efficient methods of farming gum turpentine |
| 1952 | Election of Harley Langdale, Jr. to the Department of Agriculture's Forest Research Advisory Committee |
| 1953 | Value of turpentine production in Georgia amounts to approximately $29,000,000 annually |
| Equipment Development Project moves from Gainesville, Florida to Olustee, Florida |
| ATFA urges producers to employ more modern turpentining methods to conserve trees |
| Election of ATFA president Judge Harley Langdale as president of the Georgia Co-operative Council |
| USDA contracts with the Armour Research Foundation and later Georgia Institute of Technology to study ways to make pinic acid, an ingredient in industrial products, from a turpentine component called alpha pinene |
| Judge Harley Langdale appoints Advisory Committee on Research of the ATFA and the Gum Processors Association |
| Langdale Cottage dedication at Rock Eagle Park complete with a plaque bearing Judge Harley Langdale's name and tracing the growth of ATFA |
| 1954 | Rosin production hits an all-time low while Georgia becomes the leader in pulpwood production |
| USDA develops a new class of hydroperoxides from gum rosin derivatives; turpentine hydroperoxides speed up the production of rubber |
| ATFA begins holding educational field meetings for turpentine processors |
| Demand for gum rosin in paper production increases |
| 1955 | ATFA’s membership reaches approximately 4,000 |
| Jim L. Gillis, Jr. and Ray Shirley meet with W.A. Sutton, Assistant Director, Georgia Agricultural Extension Service, regarding the cost of making a naval stores film |
| Rise of petroleum thinners threatens the gum turpentine market |
| Turpentine production continues to drop lower than numbers from the preceding year |
| 1957 | J. Aubrey Smith's film on turpentine production, More Profit Than Gum, wins the American Association of Agricultural College Editors' Farm Film Award |
| Naval Stores Station of USDA's Southern Research and Development Division develops a continuous steam still to increase production of turpentine and rosin |
| 1958 | Congress removes exemption of turpentine farmers from the Social Security Act |
| ATFA approves the formation and charter of the Pine Gum Development Corporation whose responsibility it is to store ATFA and Commodity Credit Corporation stocks on December 8 |
| 1960s | Wood naval stores overtake gum turpentine plants as the leading naval stores industry |
| 1960 | On July 27, the dedication of new office and laboratory building of the USDA Forest Service's Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, near Olustee, Florida, formerly located in the Post Office Building at Lake City, Florida |
| Naval Stores Conservation Program adopts a mascot named "Willie Barkhack," on November 8 |
| Central stills entirely replace individual fire stills |
| 1961 | On September 25, ATFA members vote to place all their gum turpentine into the federal loan program until prices and supply stabilize |
| ATFA protests the labeling of turpentine as poison, and seven congressional representatives show their support by writing a letter to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Their campaign is successful and the Food and Drug Administration ends efforts to label turpentine as poison. |
| 1962 | A mechanical gum harvester, the J.B. Bennett Power Chipper, developed by Waycross farmer, Julian Bennett, becomes available for purchase |
| The Olustee, Florida unit of the Southeastern Experiment Station establishes naval stores research as a separate program in which the physiology of gum production becomes a major area of study |
| 1963 | USDA develops a new type of plastic made from pine gum rosin |
| USDA dedicates the new Georgia Forestry Commission building in the Waycross State Forest to Dr. Charles H. Herty, inventor of the cup and gutter technique to collection gum turpentine |
| 1965 | University of Georgia begins a $500,000 research program of naval stores pines |
| At the October meeting, Judge Harley Langdale steps down as ATFA president and former ATFA director, Jim L. Gillis, Jr. of Soperton, Georgia takes his place. Also, Downing Musgrove, former general manager of ATFA, takes Gillis' position as ATFA Director and Vice President. |
| 1966 | Gum turpentine production drops to an all time low in nearly seventy years |
| 19 gum turpentine processing plants remain by May |
| 1967 | The government starts liquidating its gum naval stores |
| 1969 | Only 1,222 gum producers remain |
| Final distribution of AT-FA Journal in April |
| 1970s | Centralized gum turpentine distillery in Valdosta closes |
| 1970 | ATFA discontinues both the 4-H Naval Stores Camp held in Lowndes County and the Alabama FFA Home Improvement Contest |
| 1972 | Judge Harley Langdale dies in April |
| 1975 | Due to shrinking attendance at the annual meeting, ATFA amends bylaws from one hundred members constituting a quorum to 10% of the members in good standing |
| ATFA discontinues the annual convention and replaces it with four annual regional meetings |
| ATFA discontinues the Miss Gum Turpentine contest at the annual convention, instead the Queen will be chosen from entries in the Miss Georgia Forestry Contest at the Georgia Forestry Commission Convention |
| 1979 | Gum production falls 1,217 thousand barrels from its peak in 1949 |
| 1980s | Brazil, Portugal, China, and Indonesia become the major world producers of gum naval stores |
| 1980 | USDA stops reporting gum production and prices |
| Commodity Credit Cooperation ends loan program with ATFA |
| Approximately 300 gum producers remain |
| 1981 | Government run price support program for ATFA ceases |
| 1982 | Georgia Agrirama holds 1st annual Naval Stores Day and runs its turpentine still |
| 1991 | ATFA and the Georgia Forestry Commission support research on gum extraction and collection methods in the Southeast |
| circa 1992 | Cracker Barrel stops using rosin for baking potatoes |
| 1992 | Georgia Forestry Association discontinues Miss Georgia Forestry Queen contest, which is now run by the Georgia Forestry Commission |
| 1993 | Transfer of ATFA files and artifacts to the Georgia Agrirama in Tifton |
| 1996 | Relocation of ATFA office from Valdosta to the Georgia Forestry Commission’s McRae District Office |
| 2001 | Last bucket of Georgia gum for commercial turpentine produced on August 9 |
