Do you have "Fatwood" there? I'm pretty sure I met someone that knew somebody from SC that had a stump of it in their yard. That's sort of close to you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatwood

My neighbor was telling me old cedar stumps here will burn just about as good. We have them all over the place here. I know some are mushy, but others are hard as rock. If you do have fatwood, teach your kids to identify it. Good fatwood will light off when its been wet. I'm pretty sure it's waterproof.

Now that I think about it, a few years ago I found a small old cedar stump and tap root that had worked it's way onto the surface. After my fire was going and I was done cooking I put it on the fire and that thing burned like nothing I've ever seen before, and for longer than any wood I've ever burned. And it gave off a black smoke too. I must've stumbled on to some cedar fatwood. I don't think I'd even heard of fatwood at the time.

I'll have to go find some old cedar stumps and see how easy a piece is to light off. There might be cedar fatwood all over around here. It's rained all day here so tomorrow will be a good time to test it