What We Lost
There are still a few old-timers around who remember the American chestnut as it was before the blight. They will tell you it was a fine lumber tree. An old 1911 booklet titled Chestnut in Tennessee by W. W. Ashe (a forester) states that in 1909, 50,000 cords of chestnut wood were cut to produce tannin and 71,962,000 board feet of lumber were cut in Tennessee. Ashe conservatively estimated that in Tennessee the chestnut was worth $1,640,000 dollars annually. Many of the old houses and barns were made from chestnut; it was easily sawn and nailed as was the tulip poplar, but had the advantage of being decay-resistant. The rot-resistant chestnut logs were very popular as durable fence posts and utility poles. It was ideal for making split rail fences, since the straight-grained wood split so easily and was more available than cedar or black locust, also rot-resistant trees, in many areas. The wood was also used as railroad ties and for furniture and tannins were extracted from the bark.
The nuts were a dependable food for wildlife. When the acorn and hickory crops were lean, deer, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, wild turkey and other birds could rely on a chestnut crop. Since chestnut trees bloomed late, they escaped the spring frosts that often ruined other mast crops. Farmers often let their pigs run loose in the woods in the fall to fatten on the freshly fallen chestnuts. Children in the country loved to gather and eat the sweet-tasting nuts fresh or roasted. Many rural people depended on chestnuts as a no or low maintenance cash crop. The nuts were free for the taking and the only work was in the gathering and marketing.
The American chestnut was a giant in the forest. Arthur Stupka, former Smokey Mts. National Park naturalist, reported chestnut trees that were 10 feet in diameter and 100 feet tall. Because of its size, it has been called the "Redwood" of the East. To get a sense of how impressive these trees were, just look at the old photo below that shows humongous chestnut trees dwarfing the lumberjacks.
The disappearance of our American chestnut was a tremendous loss for humans and wildlife both. We lost a tree that many would have as our national tree. How I wish I could actually gaze at those awesome trees as these lumberjacks did over 100 years ago; it would be a humbling and spiritual experience.
Photo credits: Pictures of old chestnut posts by Dr. Wayne Chester; old logging pictures from Jonathan Tinsley; chestnut fruits by author; large chestnut trees and lumberjacks courtesy of the ACCF.