Chestnut Photos--Spring 2005 (photos provided by Joe Schibig unless otherwise noted)
Shannon and Mark go skyward to pollinate a fine mother tree in Macon County, Tennessee; on the ground, Hill (left) and Rickey (right) watch the operation (photo on June 17, 2005)
Jeramie and Hill complete the bagging process--about 200 bags were applied. Hybrid pollen from TACF's Meadowview Research Farm was used on this pure American chestnut tree. The offspring of this cross will have mostly American chestnut genes, and some will have Chinese chestnut genes giving them moderate resistance to the blight. (photo on June 17, 2005)
Kids help Mark Vance erect a deer fence around the new chestnut backcross orchard at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee. (Photo by Mark Vance, June 2005)
This barn encloses the remains of an old house made from hand-hewn chestnut logs. (photo on June 14, 2005)
In north central Tennessee, this barn was constructed around an old chestnut log house with the chestnut framing acting as an internal brace for the surrounding barn which was made from oak boards.
These are old hand-hewn chestnut logs forming a wall of the old house.
A door to the log house was made from wide chestnut boards.
Corner notching of the logs.
An old chestnut log with bark still intact.
An old chestnut floor board dated 1920; another board was inscribed with a date of 1906. We guess the hand-hewn logs to be 100 years old or older.
From left, Seth, Matt, Jeramie, Shannon, and Nathan stand next to one of the tallest (55-60 feet) chestnuts in Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP)-- (photo on June 7, 2005)
While inventorying chestnut trees at MCNP, the group encounters a black racer in a sourwood bush.
The turkey are saying "sure would be nice to have some chestnut mast". (photo by Mark Vance)
Mark Vance encounters fawn while searching for American chestnut specimens at Mammoth Cave National Park. (photo by Mark Vance, May 31, 2005)
Shaded chestnut points to nest of wild turkey eggs at Mammoth Cave National Park. (May 24, 2005)
Chestnut hunters (from left,
Matt, Jeramie, Nathan, and Mark)
stand by largest American chestnut known at Mammoth Cave National Park.
(May 24, 2005)
Jeramie finds relatively
large chestnut at Mammoth Cave National Park; Matt is in the background.
(May 24, 2005)
Mountain laurel in dry
chestnut woods at Mammoth Cave National Park
(May 18, 2005)
American chestnut and fire
pink at Mammoth Cave National Park
(May 18, 2005)
A splendid chestnut log home in New York state made from salvaged chestnut logs in the 1940s--photo submitted on May 18, 2004 by George Honchar
Mark Vance leads hike to see chestnut trees at Picket State Park in north central Tennessee. (photos on April 16)
Group assembles for photo at an overlook on a
beautiful April day at Picket State Park.
Mark (center) shows group a grove of chestnut
trees planted in Picket State Park or in the adjoining state forest. The tree in
the background (photos above and below) appears to be an Asiatic chestnut
species or perhaps a hybrid. The bark was somewhat flakey and the young
leaves (hairy beneath) of a seedling are displayed below. In the
photo below (right), Will stands next to the curious chestnut tree; a bur can be
seen in the crotch of the stem. Although many of these chestnut trees are
surviving in forest conditions, their branches are swollen due to infection by
the blight which these trees appear to be tolerating; they are tall, but have
terrible growth form.
Chestnut display and activities at the Science Expo held at Volunteer State Community College, Gallatin, Tennessee, teach youngsters about the great American chestnut. (photos on April 7, 2005)
A curious youngster takes a look at Chinese and American chestnut leaves under dissecting microscopes to see the differences and similarities between the two. State botanist, Claude Bailey (behind the microscopes), and student, Anne Osborne (foreground), work with Joe Schibig at this exhibit.
Farmer in Sumner County, Tennessee remembers the American chestnut. (photos taken on Mar. 20)
Bobby Gilliam (in upper photo) was interviewed and videotaped by Dawn Kellogg (photo below) and Joe Schibig. Bobby remembers the 1930s and 1940s vividly. He says American chestnut was very abundant on the hilly land around Westmoreland, Tn. (northern Highland Rim region). Bobby recalls that, in the 1930s, utility poles in the area were made from small chestnut poles--there was no need to creosote them. He remembers cutting down huge dead chestnut trees, some four to five feet in diameter, with a cross-cut saw in the late 1930s and selling the wood as "dye wood" which was shipped by the tons out of Westmoreland on railroad cars (tannins were probably extracted from the "dye wood"). He also has memories of splitting chestnut poles to make those rustic zigzag fences that were the only fences most farmers could afford back in the depression years of the 1930s. He is one of the few folks still with us who remembers the sweet flavorful taste of ripe American chestnuts. In the photo above, Bobby and Dawn are inspecting a rare fruiting American chestnut which Bobby found on his property in the 1950s as he was clearing the woods for pasture. Fortunately, he realized the importance of the surviving tree and has protected it for 30 years; he has observed the tree going through several cycles of sprout growth, flowering, fruiting, and death. We sent Mark Double, a plant pathologist in West Virginia, canker samples from this tree, and Mark indicated the blight strain was hypovirulent; this would account for the tree living as long as it does before succumbing to blight. Most trees are killed by virulent strains of the blight fungus before they are mature enough to flower.
