Greene, Washington, Sullivan and Hawkins counties have been hit hard as well.
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Very interesting video about the American chestnut
- Thread starter catman529
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I have been doing family tree research for the past 10 years. Most of my maternal grandmother's family came from the Scott County, Virginia area. The reason I mention this is that many of my ancestors were loggers and amidst all of my family research, I have several photos of these men posing in front of lumber they had cut with those old 16' crosscut saws that took two men to operate. Most of these photos were taken between 1880-1930 and the predominant tree in this area at that time was the American chestnut. As soon as I locate some of those pics, I will post a few to this thread. Most people would not believe how incredibly large those trees grew. Some were the diameter of Volkswagen beetles and probably 75 feet or more tall.
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If any of you folks are in the far eastern part of the state, pay attention to old barns being torn down in your areas. Believe it or not, but the American Chestnut was so common 100 years ago that it was used as the primary lumber in barn construction from 1900-1940. I was surprised to learn this but saw it for myself when a local barn was torn down just over 10 years ago.
My understanding going all the way back to my Boyhood, was that the old barns from the 19th century were built primarily from Chestnut. Most which appeared to have never been painted were still in pretty good shape and the wood was still usable somehow. Used mostly for interior decor.
That's what my family oral histories have always said as well. During the past 10 years there has been a trend toward using reclaimed barn wood for interior decorative purposes, but I'd imagine larger pieces could be used in new exterior construction as well.
catman529
Well-Known Member
Yes and they used the wood from dead trees too. Wormy chestnut is wood that was cut dead and had worm holes in it. From what I've heard it still has some value.
catman529
Well-Known Member
Barn wood is very popular around here. You see it on and around multimillion dollar homes often.
Wobblyshot1
Well-Known Member
I knew an old fella that had grown up in the Santa Fe area of Maury County in the first half of the last century. His resume included being a carpenter, farmer, and logger. I remember him distinctly saying the chestnut was the predominate tree in the woods that he logged.
There is a lot of hope on the darling chestnut with the wheat germ dna that allows it to survive the blight
And if it crosses with a true wild tree 1/2 of the offspring will inherit that trait
Join the New York chapter of the American chestnut organization to help support that research
And if it crosses with a true wild tree 1/2 of the offspring will inherit that trait
Join the New York chapter of the American chestnut organization to help support that research
I've planted some of the Dunstan's and the deer love them. Noticed a neighbor down the road that has a chestnut tree that produces a ton of nuts. I don't know what kind as I can't tell the difference. He had it cut to the ground just a few months ago.
What age of Dunstan trees did you initially plant, and how long did it take them to start bearing nuts?
Pretty neat. I've heard the chestnut stories for years. I can imagine that our forests looked completely different with the canopy that those massive trees provided.
Had some pains. I first planted small seadlings and had no luck with them. I then planted around 5 potted trees, the deer took 3 and I took 1 accidentally with the tractor, which left me with one (use cages or the deer will wipe them out). I've since planted5 more. These were all walmart purchased trees so not sure the age, probably 3 gal pots, 5 feet tall.
One positive, the tree from the first batch that survived starting producing in just a few years. Its now producing a lot of chestnuts and the deer come right to it. The others havent been in the ground long enough to produce.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that report BigAl. You're the first person I've heard report on their experiences with Dunstans.
BSK
Well-Known Member
When my family first moved to the South (Bowling Green, KY in 1976), my parents wanted to build a house that was very rustic inside. They began going around to old homesites that were being torn down and buying up all the old tongue-and-groove flooring, solid wood doors, wood fireplace mantles, etc. They found a barn that was being sold to make way for new construction. It was a VERY big barn that had been built around a pre-Civil War double pen with a dog-trot log cabin. What they wanted were those old logs (real monsters that were all Poplar) for interior support beams in the house. But after we had disassembled the whole barn we began to realize just how great the exterior planking was. No idea how old the barn built around the cabin was, but the framing structure was all pegged together; no nails. The exterior planking was all rough cut an inch thick and a foot wide. Once was started plaining down some of those planks we found whoever built the barn didn't seem to care what wood was used. Although most was Red or White oak, we also found full planks of Black Walnut, Cherry and even Persimmon. At the time, I was in High School, and I had a blast in woodshop using that planking to make all sorts of things. I still have a gun rack I made out of big planks of Persimmon. Gorgeous wood. I also learned that hundred year-old planks of oak are like steal plating from a battleship! You can barely cut it or drill through it, let alone drive a nail through it!
BSK, you are 100% totally right about that. A few months after I retired from the Army and moved back to Tennessee, I got hit with a surprise divorce that I never saw coming. Out of necessity, I moved into my maternal grandparent's old farmhouse (my mother & her three younger sisters' childhood home) that had been vacant for over 10 years.
Some of you may remember my post earlier in this thread about my ancestors being loggers. Well, my grandfather and my grandmother's oldest brother, who had just returned from Europe shortly after WWII ended, built that house from the ground up, framing, laying the brick, everything, including all wiring and plumbing. around late 1948 or early 1949. Those two men used one of those old crosscut saws to cut tulip poplar trees on a "knob" about half a mile from the building site. They then used a team of mules to move the logs to a field adjacent to the build site, where they used a horse-powered saw mill to mill the logs into usable lumber.
While I lived there, I did some minor renovations and updates to make the house a bit more energy efficient. I broke more than a few drill bits and jigsaw blades in the process. Let me tell you, poplar lumber that has dried for close to 75 years IS as hard as any oak I've ever seen. Unfortunately, the tornadoes that hit Greene County in 2011 pretty much destroyed it, blowing out the entire north side of the house and making it economically unrepairable. Fortunately, I salvaged about 500 board feet of that popular lumber and currently have it stickered in my basement. One day I hope to have time to build something from it in remembrance of my grandparents.
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BSK
Well-Known Member
Wow, what a story utvolsfan77! To know the whole history of a hand-built house is really cool.
We had so much lumber from the barn we tore down, we just stored it all in an old unused tobacco barn on our property. It was still there when my parents sold the farm and moved to Nashville about a decade ago. All those 1" thick by 12" wide hardwood planks were still piled 10 feet high in the tobacco barn when they left. Now seeing the market for old barn wood, that stuff was a gold mine! Too bad we didn't see the market coming.
We had so much lumber from the barn we tore down, we just stored it all in an old unused tobacco barn on our property. It was still there when my parents sold the farm and moved to Nashville about a decade ago. All those 1" thick by 12" wide hardwood planks were still piled 10 feet high in the tobacco barn when they left. Now seeing the market for old barn wood, that stuff was a gold mine! Too bad we didn't see the market coming.
You're absolutely right......that lumber is worth a small fortune! Woodworking is one of my hobbies and lumber isn't cheap. It's even worse since Covid-19 hit. That's why I always try to find lumber in the rough at a decent price, then I plane it down myself in the small shop I have in my basement.
1000%!!!! I've planted so many of those dog gone things and deer obliterate them. None have ever made it to production yet. Several of them sprouted anew from the roots after deer tore them up, and I'll be dipped if the rabbits didn't eat them right back down. I can only imagine what they'd be like if they produced nuts. I dream of having a hillside loaded with them but so far it's proving a difficult task!
