“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire …” begins the familiar holiday classic song popularized by Nat King Cole and others.
In a sadly ironic twist, by the time the song was written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé, American Chestnut trees had largely disappeared from our landscape. The songwriters’ desire to invoke warm images of home and hearth were unfortunately already nostalgic.
The American Chestnut, or Castanea dentata, was once one of the most dominant species in our forests, accounting for almost one of every four trees. An estimated 4 billion spread from Maine to Michigan and south to Georgia and Alabama.
It’s hard to over-emphasize the importance of the American Chestnut tree to Native Americans and early settlers in our area. Insects fed on chestnut leaves which in turn provided nutrients for birds and fish. Bees thrived on chestnut blossoms. Wildlife such as squirrels, deer, turkey, and bear fed on chestnuts. Settlers fattened hogs and cattle on chestnut mast. Gathering chestnuts provided a valuable commodity that could be exchanged for shoes, clothes, sugar, coffee, and other “store-bought” goods.
The wood split easily, burned well, made ideal lumber for buildings and furniture, and its high resistance to rot resulted in an ideal material for all outdoor applications (including caskets!)
As detailed by Noel Moore in Foxfire 6, “the nuts were real sweet, especially if they were roasted or boiled. Didn’t taste like a walnut or pecan; nothin’ else tastes like them.”
Unfortunately, a deadly blight from Asia, the pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica, was introduced in the United States in the early 1900s, and by the late 1930s had decimated almost all the American Chestnuts in the forests of Western North Carolina.
The good news is that researchers are making progress developing a blight resistant American Chestnut. The Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust was proud to recently host a presentation by the American Chestnut Foundation on their efforts, using genomics and other tools, to develop trees with sufficient blight resistance and genetic diversity to eventually allow reforestation.
There is finally reason to hope that the American Chestnut will eventually regain its prominence in our forests.
More information on the mission of the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust can be found at hcltnc.org, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
May your holidays be merry and bright!
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