AMERICAN CHESTNUT TREES- ONCE THE PRIDE OF THE APPALACHIA'S

[blackbeltbill]

 

[Jeremy K]

There was a chestnut tree in the neighborhood I grew up in. It was great for climbing. It was in some guys front yard. We used to grab them off the ground by the bucket full to take in the woods and have chestnut wars. At first we asked the guy if we could take them. He told us to grab as many as we wanted as often as we wanted. I can still feel the sting of those spikes hitting me in the back lol.

[knehrke]

I've been growing (under lights in the winter) and planting chestnuts since we first purchased our property. Mostly hybrids with some disease resistance. I feel like between our soil and microclimate, it's a tough go - we've lost more than have survived. But I'm starting to see decent crops from the best trees. They're a steep food source; tons of biomass in a very short period. I suspect that squirrel benefit more than deer lol. And me of course; I love roasted chestnuts

[G-Man]

1 of every 4 trees  in north east was an american chestnut.

Was primary food source for passenger pigeons 

Song chestnust roasting  on open fire was about american chestnut. 

Also called redwood of east

Killed by blight from china... and we keep shipping more stuff here and killing more native flora and fauna...we dont learn...

[dmandoes]

6 hours ago, Jeremy K said:

There was a chestnut tree in the neighborhood I grew up in. It was great for climbing. It was in some guys front yard. We used to grab them off the ground by the bucket full to take in the woods and have chestnut wars. At first we asked the guy if we could take them. He told us to grab as many as we wanted as often as we wanted. I can still feel the sting of those spikes hitting me in the back lol.

What kids r missing nowadays.  For me it was cider apples and cow chips. 

[turkeyfeathers]

30 minutes ago, dmandoes said:

What kids r missing nowadays.  For me it was cider apples and cow chips. 

we had apple wars and used the metal garbage can lids as shields. When i used to pitch playing baseball so everyone wanted me on their side

[SportsmanNH]

1 hour ago, G-Man said:

1 of every 4 trees  in north east was an american chestnut.

Was primary food source for passenger pigeons 

Song chestnust roasting  on open fire was about american chestnut. 

Also called redwood of east

Killed by blight from china... and we keep shipping more stuff here and killing more native flora and fauna...we dont learn...

Lets not forget about  Chinese Snake Head predator fish feasting on  our native sport fish and Asian Carp sucking up all the fish eggs and weed habitat of our native fish . And last but not least to never be forgotten,  China sent over a virus that killed a MILLION Americans !    

[blackbeltbill]

   And undoubtedly- the American  Chestnut was the #1 Mast Food for the Wild Turkey before the Blight  Killed all the Trees.

[grampy]

8 hours ago, blackbeltbill said:

 

I love Donnie Law videos!!! 

[blackbeltbill]

1 hour ago, grampy said:

I love Donnie Law videos!!! 

X2.

[Larry]

There are still Chestnut trees out there. The blight may have killed the trees but the roots system is still alive. will spout trees that last about 10 years till the blight kills them. I read an article about trying to plant blight resistant tree near by to see if they will cross pollenate and produce blight resistant nuts or trees.

 

[wolc123]

I am currently in the process of dismantling a couple of 36’ x 46’ x 16’ post and beam barns, that my great great grandfather put up between 1880 and 1883, that were mostly made from American Chestnut.

 I love the color of that wood and I repurposed a lot of it to make shops and a loft inside my new metal pole barn, the shell of which went up in 2018.

The “18” on the sign I made for under the peak, inside the new barn, was originally up under the peak, on the outside of the old barn in the first pic, that I am working on dismantling now.  

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the “83” board down in one piece, and it broke right across the “3”.  I tried to match the text, with a jigsaw, to make the “20”. 

The wall behind this rack, which I killed from behind a 3-foot weathered American chestnut wall around this tree blind, is American chestnut granary wood from the first barn that I dismantled. 

Edited August 5 by wolc123