Heidler Hardwood Lumber

Specie Information

Castanea dentata

The American Chestnut was once a native tree that grew from southern Maine across the Midwest to Michigan, down through Indiana and Illinois, and south to Alabama and Mississippi, and eastward into the Appalachians. The American Chestnut was cultivated in 1800 and was once considered to be the queen of the eastern American forest. With massive, wide-spreading branches and a deep broad-rounded crown, the American Chestnut was known to reach a height of 100 feet. It was commonly found on mountains, hills, and slopes in gravelly or rocky, well-drained glacial soils. Around 1904 a blight, Endothia parasitica (commonly known as the Chestnut blight) was introduced into the United States from the Orient.

By 1940 there was only a minor production of nuts from the sprouts and seedlings that survived. Lumber from American Chestnut trees was still available for about ten years after the blight. Often the chestnut trees that were left standing were infested with small borers which chewed pin-sized holes into the wood. This damaged wood was called "wormy chestnut".