By Kayla Walden
Many people (click here) today typically associate chestnuts with the familiar tune about roasting them over an open fire. But before disease wiped out the majority of the chestnut tree population, the species ruled America’s eastern forests.
“American chestnuts used to dominate the Appalachian forest,” says Dennis Fulbright, professor emeritus at Michigan State University. “But in the early 20th century, a fungal disease called chestnut blight made its way through the country and destroyed 4 billion mature American chestnut trees.”
The Redwoods of the East
Before the chestnut blight, these trees blanketed 200 million acres of forests from Maine to Mississippi. The largest ever recorded measured 27 feet across the stump, earning them the nickname redwoods of the East. People used the trees for traditional purposes like lumber and firewood, but also stripped and soaked the bark to create tanning liquid for hides and leather. Not to mention, the trees produced delicious edible chestnuts.
The tree even had a tendency to sprout right back up from its roots, meaning farmers didn’t need to replant after chopping one down. A 400-year-old root could quickly push up several young trees to replace the old.
“I’m not sure our generation can truly understand how tied to a tree people could be,” Fulbright says. “The American chestnut was the tree that surpassed all others.”...
