The American Chestnut Tree in the Eastern U.S.

Fossil evidence indicates that the American chestnut tree occupied North America for more than 60,000 years. The natural range of this tree extended from lower Canada to Georgia and as far west as Indiana and Kentucky.  It was the dominant tree up and down the Appalachian Mountain range - one in four trees was an American chestnut.   (click on the small thumbnail pictures to expand) 

In Pennsylvania the density was even higher.  Some counties had between 40% to 50% of their timber acreage in chestnut.

  Pennsylvania Chestnut Density by County in 1911

Historic uses of Chestnut:

• Wildlife Food Source.  Chestnut trees produced an enormous harvest of nuts each autumn, compared to a large oak tree which may produce about 2,000 acorns some years and other years none.  A chestnut tree of the same size could produce up to 6,000 sweet nuts every year. The high density of American chestnut trees across the range made for a huge mast of wildlife food on the forest floor each year.

• Human Consumption.  The chestnut was consumed throughout the years by Native Americans, Early Settlers, Pioneers, and into the last century nuts were sold in major eastern cities by street vendors.  Some songwriters nostalgically wrote about them  "roasting on open fires".

• Furniture Making.  Chestnut wood was plentiful and easily worked due to the lighter weight and straight grain.  The wood has a warm yellow appearance compared to other hardwoods.

• Tannery Industry.  Due to the high tannin content of chestnut, it was used extensively in leather tanning. Pennsylvania was a leader in this industry years ago.

• Charcoal Making.  Iron furnaces throughout the U.S. consumed many acres of forests which included this dominant chestnut tree.  Four to five acres of forests were normally cut to supply charcoal for one iron furnace each year.

• Building and Lumber Industry.  Many homes, barns and a variety of buildings that were built prior to the blight devastation were constructed of chestnut.  The beams, planking and trim was of chestnut because it was easy to work, had a straight grain, was rot resistance and beautiful.

The Chestnut Blight

In 1904, a strange infection appeared on the bark of chestnut trees at the Bronx  Zoological Gardens, NY later identified as the chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica).  This fungus was apparently imported on chestnut tree nursery stock from Japan or China.  Due to the high susceptibility of the American chestnut, the blight traveled rapidly across the tree's range, sometimes as fast as 50 miles a year. By 1915 over half of Pennsylvania's prized American chestnut trees were gone.  The entire  Eastern U.S. chestnut population was killed off by 1950 and only a few survivors and small stump sprouts remained.  This was one of the worst ecological and economic disasters to ever hit the forests of the Eastern U.S.  No effective cure was ever found to halt the advancing chestnut blight. 

A promising procedure called backcross breeding was started in the 1980's  by the American Chestnut Foundation to breed blight resistant American chestnut trees.  The Pennsylvania Chapter is participating by breeding trees adaptable to the Mid-Atlantic Region.