The Story of American Chestnut

 
 

Until the beginning of the 20th century, American Chestnut trees—perhaps as many as 4 billion of them—swept across a vast region of the eastern United States like a sash. Their historic range could be traced from New England to Pennsylvania and Ohio, southwest across West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, and down to the northern parts of Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana. Builders and furniture makers prized the straight-grained wood, which is rot-resistant, light, and easy to work with. Farmers harvested chestnuts each year to fatten up their livestock, and local wildlife fed on the mast. Chestnut wood is all around us: when it was plentiful, it was used to make railroad ties, houses, furniture, and musical instruments. Generations of Americans ate chestnuts themselves, as well as meat and dairy products from chestnut-fed animals.

Wild American chestnut trees growing in Western North Carolina.

Wild American chestnut trees growing in Western North Carolina.

Tanners used the bark’s natural tannins to cure their leather. For centuries, castanea dentata supported an entire regional ecosystem, particularly in Appalachia. In the Blue Ridge Mountains, the trees’ white catkins made the landscape look as though it had been blanketed by snow when they began to bloom each summer. Prior to European colonization, people from the Shawnee and Cherokee tribes mixed chestnuts—which are both starchy and high in protein—with corn to make bread. The black bear population feasted on chestnuts before hibernation, and sheltered under the trees. According to the American Chestnut Foundation, about 200 million acres between Maine and Mississippi were once covered by chestnut-dominated forests. But to see a living American Chestnut tree today, you’ll have to travel to northern Michigan to find the extreme edge of their historic range, or the American Chestnut Foundation’s research arbors. What happened to the American Chestnut tree? And why is its catastrophic demise it such a little-known story?

One reason might be that it occurred over a century ago, and the story has passed out of living memory. Changes in the way we live and eat mean that reliable, frost-resistant, productive trees are less important to the average American now than proximity to a good grocery store. And today, walking around midtown Manhattan during the holidays, chestnuts in little wax paper bags can be purchased from street vendors, who roast them so that their earthy fragrance fills the air. But the chestnuts that come from street vendors—immortalized though they may be by Nat King Cole’s “A Christmas Song”—are not American at all. They’re most likely imported from Italy, where the castanea sativa, or “sweet chestnut,” has been cultivated since Roman times. Chestnuts of various species are accessible to us today thanks to global trade. But our native castanea dentata population, along with the wood, bark, and nuts they produced, and the lifestyle and customs that grew up around it, were all but eradicated by the middle of the 20th century. And it started, of all places, in New York City.

Chestnut blight devastation photographed in 1943.

Chestnut blight devastation photographed in 1943.

The fungus that would ultimately come to be known as the American Chestnut Blight was first documented in 1904 at the New York Zoological Park, now the Bronx Zoo. A forester at the park reported that an astonishing number of chestnut trees on the grounds were dying for no obvious reason. Research would later reveal that a pathogen called cryphonectria parasitica had arrived in North America with a group of Japanese Chestnut saplings around 1900. Asian chestnut trees had long been exposed to the fungus and were immune, but castanea dentata was defenseless. Trees began dying in New York and Pennsylvania. In 1910, a Southern Lumberman editorial made reference to "mysterious blight" that appeared to be affecting chestnut trees. Foresters in Pennsylvania began burning dead trees and spraying those that were infected but still appeared healthy, to no avail. By 1925, cryphonectria parasitica reached the Great Smoky Mountains. Appalachia was hit especially hard by the blight because the region was so rural. The populations of game animals like racoons, squirrels, grouse, and wild turkeys that had once fed on abundant chestnuts were now decimated, and the Great Depression was just a few years away. Now two important food sources, the chestnuts themselves and the animals they fed, were in peril.

The blight continued apace during World War II and the postwar era, in which processed, shelf-stable food flooded the American marketplace. Fewer and fewer families, even in rural areas, were self-sufficient, and more people were consuming store-bought food. It’s possible that even if the chestnut trees had survived, the shift in consumption habits would have steered people away from consuming chestnuts and the small game animals and livestock that had fed on them. Today, the only way to find chestnut wood in significant quantities is through salvage operations like ours. The Hudson Company is fortunate on occasion to find well-preserved 19th century barns in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland whose wood can be reclaimed and repurposed.

 
A Large Surviving American Chestnut Tree in Kentucky.

A Large Surviving American Chestnut Tree in Kentucky.

Drawing of a chestnut tree by James Fuller Queen.

Drawing of a chestnut tree by James Fuller Queen.

 

Writing in The American Chestnut: the Life, Death and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree, Susan Freinkel notes that chestnut was often used in concert with other hardwoods like oak, cherry, or black walnut. The finest 18th and 19th century American furniture you’ll encounter in great collections like those at the Philadelphia Museum of Art or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, contains many chests, desks, tables and chairs made primarily from mahogany, walnut, poplar or cherry, with pieces of chestnut used strategically in various places for support. In furniture, chestnut tended to be a supporting player, but as timber, it was unmatched. 

Some chestnut wood is described as “wormy” chestnut, which would seem to belie the trees’ imperviousness to insects. But wormy chestnut has a very particular origin: when trees began to die during the blight but were still upright, the larvae of the chestnut timber borer beetle made its way through the wood. When that wood was salvaged, it appeared to have holes and lines throughout, which initially made it undesirable. But as the Colonial Revival movement gained popularity in the 1940’s and ‘50s, wormy chestnut became fashionable as a wood for furniture, floors and trim for people seeking a distinctive rustic look.

Reclaimed Chestnut Kitchen Island.

Reclaimed Chestnut Kitchen Island.

Reclaimed Chestnut from The Hudson Company

Reclaimed Chestnut from The Hudson Company

Reclaimed Wormy Chestnut Writing Desk.

Reclaimed Wormy Chestnut Writing Desk.

For those who love the American Chestnut and want to see the trees flourish again, genetic engineering holds great promise. Founded in 1983 by three botanists, the American Chestnut Foundation, based in Asheville, North Carolina, now has chapters in 16 states. The ACF’s mission is to use genetics to try to give American Chestnut trees some of the immunity of Chinese chestnut trees through cross-breeding. With each generation, additional crosses increase the amount of Chinese chestnut DNA in the American trees, which scientists hope will give these “perfect trees” a fighting chance.

 
Reclaimed Chestnut Herringbone Flooring by The Hudson Company.

Reclaimed Chestnut Herringbone Flooring by The Hudson Company.

 

Introducing Our Limited Edition Reclaimed Belleview-Biltmore Heart Pine

Same Expertise, Now Twice The Flooring Choices

Since 1995, The Hudson Company has been a leader in custom milled Reclaimed Wood Floors. Now, as a complement to our Reclaimed products, we are proud to introduce our Select Harvest line of custom milled, new flooring. Select Harvest flooring is available pre-finished and unfinished.

Browse Select Harvest Flooring Now

Introducing Our New 'Ready To Ship' Product Line

Product In Focus: Reclaimed White Oak Flooring

Private residence featuring Reclaimed White Oak [New Face] Flooring, Central Park West, NYC.

Private residence featuring Reclaimed White Oak [New Face] Flooring, Central Park West, NYC.

Private residence featuring Reclaimed White Oak [New Face] Flooring, Central Park West, NYC.

Private residence featuring Reclaimed White Oak [New Face] Flooring, Central Park West, NYC.

Reclaimed White Oak [Bare Finish, Herringbone] at Rag & Bone Boutique, Bloomingdales, NYC.

Reclaimed White Oak [Bare Finish, Herringbone] at Rag & Bone Boutique, Bloomingdales, NYC.

As you can see above, The Hudson Company's family of Reclaimed White Oak floors are available in several finishes, color tones, plank widths, and with a variety of other spec. options. Closely associated with strength, endurance, style, and quality, Oak has been en vogue for as long as wood has been used in architecture, design, furniture making, and woodcraft. At The Hudson Company, one of our greatest passions is helping architects, designers, and builders incorporate these timeless Oak wood floors into innovative installations that meet the practical and aesthetic needs of their 21st century clients and customers.

Sourcing Reclaimed White Oak Flooring: 

Typically, our Reclaimed White Oak floors are sourced from the structural members of historic American barns or decommissioned warehouses and industrial buildings. Reclaimed Oak floors offer designers a wide spectrum of inherent and desirable aesthetic qualities, including: knots, sap wood, cathedral grain, and 'tiger striping.' Additionally, many of our Reclaimed White Oak floor planks and timbers include unique traces of historical milling, including: saw kerfs, ferrous stains, nail holes, checking, and scarring.

Flooring Specifications: 

For our Reclaimed White Oak [New Face, Barley Finish, Prime Grade] Flooring: 3/4" x 4-6" x 2-12'. Tongue & Groove. End Matched. New Face. Solid or Engineered. Shown pre-finished in Barley. Also available unfinished

For our Reclaimed White Oak [New Face, Bare Finish, Prime Grade] Flooring: Specifications: 3/4" x 4 or 6" x 2-10'. Tongue & Groove. End Matched. Micro-Beveled. New Face. Solid or Engineered. Shown pre-finished in Bare. Also available unfinished.

*Do you need Reclaimed White Oak Flooring milled to meet custom specs or with a custom finish? Contact us today to speak with a member of The Hudson Company Team to discuss how we can help find a custom solution for your design project needs.

Product In Focus: Select Harvest White Oak [Barley Finish]

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The Hudson Company's Select Harvest White Oak [Barley Finish], shown above as installed in New York's exclusive Spice Warehouse, celebrates the rustic nature of White Oak and is inclusive of knots, sap wood, and grain variation. The material's grain structure invites penetrating stains or can be fumed to create a warm walnut-like tonality. Our Select Harvest White Oak [Barley Finish] floors are pre-finished with a low-VOC finish.

Specifications: 3/4" x 4-8" x 3-14'. Tongue & Groove. End Matched. Micro-Beveled. New Face. Solid or Engineered. Pre-finished.

Learn more or get a quote for your next project here.

Product In Focus: Reclaimed Mixed Oak [Parquet De Versailles]

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Sometimes a floor is just a floor. And sometimes, a floor is a statement piece - a work of functional art. That's how we feel about our Reclaimed Mixed Oak [Parquet de Versailles] flooring - a classic that has stood the test of time.

Available as either finished or unfinished, this unique reclaimed flooring product is fabricated from antique, new face oak and assembled in a historically accurate Parquet de Versailles pattern.

The history and grain patterns evident in the wood compliments this esteemed flooring pattern with character inclusive of nail holes, ferrous stains, light checking and natural variation associated with antique oak. As an installation, the floor pays homage to the historic French parquetry while utilizing America's agrarian history.

Specifications: 3/4" x 36" x 36". Parquet de Versailles. New Face. Solid. Unfinished or Pre-Finished.

Get a quote for Reclaimed Mixed Oak [Parquet de Versailles] here or let us know how we can help you with your next design project here.

Product In Focus: Reclaimed Hemlock [Mushroom Wood]

One of our most popular products, 'Mushroom Wood' is a distinct offering from The Hudson Company and is available to our customers as both flooring (shown above) and for use in paneling applications (shown below).

Sourced from the decommissioned wooden bins used in mushroom growing facilities, Mushroom Wood has a character all its own. During the mushroom growth cycle, enzymes digest and erode the soft wood grain and produce an organic, sculpted effect in the wood. After the mushrooms are harvested, the wood displays a deep, open-grain texture and caramel hue. 

And while all of our Mushroom Wood products are made up of primarily Hemlock woods, they may also include elements of cypress and other softwoods. These natural variations in the Mushroom Wood are part of what endows these products with the strong aesthetic qualities that allow them to work well in numerous design applications. 

Learn more about Hudson Company Reclaimed Hemlock [Mushroom Wood] flooring and paneling or contact us to get a quote today.