Mixed woods are also the rule here in the Tennessee bluegrass region. The "fancy floor" tends to be blue poplar , which is yellow poplar from old trees where the heartwood turned blue with great age. ("Yellow poplar" is the lumber from the Tulip Poplar, which is no longer classified as a poplar at all, but the "Tuliptree"). Upstairs, one generally sees ash floors. Oak floors were disdained for their appearance, and one never sees pine floors until much later. It's sometimes called "railway pine" as pine lumber came into vogue only when railways were around to ship it into the region; pine trees don't thrive in this soil.

I am guessing the red oak may well be original to your home as well. 2" boards were common by 1893.

If your floor is original (and it sounds like it is) why would you consider replacing? The wood put into houses in 1893 is superior to almost anything you could buy, certainly most new-sawn stuff. It will be harder, more durable and may already have a nice patina. Replacing wood flooring with similar material would cost a bomb, and you would have lost a piece of the real thing!

And keep in mind that from that time period the pine flooring is probably long-leaf pine which is much harder than the more common (currently) yellow pine. I think finding long-leaf pine flooring would be very difficult. Also, quarter sawn oak is preferable to the more common flat sawn. And of course, more expensive!

Raykey,

"Yellow pine" is not a tree, but a commercial grouping of lumber from several species--loblolly, slash, shortleaf, and longleaf pine. It's just how the lumber is sold, much like there is no "yellow poplar" tree; yellow poplar lumber comes from the tuliptree. Longleaf pine lumber is simply one type of yellow pine lumber.

[This gets confusing out West, where the Ponderosa pine is sometimes called the "Yellow Pine." But as a rule, the term "yellow pine" means lumber from fast-growing pines predominantly from the coastal plain in the South.]

Then perhaps I should have said that Pinus palustris (longleaf) would make better flooring than Pinus spp (Southern yellow).

Thanks for all the feedback - it's been very helpful! I should have been more specific in the original posting.....the pine is in 2 upstairs bedrooms and it seems like it was original. The upstairs hallway and all of the first floor are in narrow red oak that was added probably in the 1960's. The boards have vert short lengths and the floor is pretty beat up. That is what led us to consider replacing the narrow oak boards with quartersawn white oak 4" planks. Any more thoughts?

Pinus palustris is one of the "southern yellow" pines, along with slash pine, swamp pine, loblolly and shortleaf. It produces virtually the same lumber as any of the other coastal plain species. (Longleaf tends to grow in sandy uplands, not in the wetter areas, but its range is about the same as most of the others.)

Since the original poster is from New York, the flooring in the cottage could well be white pine or red pine, though yellow pine was being shipped from the South by this time. Still, the economics would probably dictate a more locally available species was used.

It really is a matter of taste. Oak certianly is less likly to dent vs. heart pine. But people usually do not
buy heart pine for its durability, they buy it for that
certian "old house" look that only heart pine can provide.
Then there is cost. I sell q-sawn oak for $6.25 sq ft
while 4" vertical grain heart pine at $8.25 sq ft