Spreading the
Chestnut Tree
by Charles Alexander
Chances are that it has been a long
time since you have roasted chestnuts
over an open fire… perhaps you never
have. So why does one of the most
popular Christmas carols of all time
herald this Christmas tradition in the
very first line of the lyric?
More than just a forgotten tradition,
at one time chestnuts and the trees that
bore them were an integral part of the
fabric of American life. In June and
July, folks throughout the Appalachians
were treated to a spectacular annual
display of creamy blossoms atop the
forest canopy, as the tallest American
chestnut trees dominated the mountain
timberlands. A few months later, after
the first frost, these regents
of the eastern American
woodlands would drop
their fruit, which was then
eagerly gathered.
Chestnuts were a
mainstay of the diet in
local rural communities.
They were also used to
feed livestock, and were in
such abundant supply that
the surplus was carted in
bushels by the wagonload
to towns and cities. They
became a huge cash crop,
and were being cultivated
as such by 1800. Many of these nuts
eventually found their way by rail into
large cities, such as New York and
Philadelphia, where they were roasted
and sold by street vendors.
It is not clear why roasting chestnuts
evolved into a Christmas tradition, but
it probably has its roots in European
tradition, wherein the poor are fed
roasted chestnuts on St. Simon’s day,
October 28th, a traditional beginning
to the religious holiday season. It also
happens to coincide nicely with timing
of the chestnut harvest.
Nonetheless, the chestnut has
largely vanished from the American
diet, notwithstanding Nat King Cole’s
best efforts. In fact, by the time “The
Christmas Song” became a part of our
culture, the American chestnut had
nearly vanished from the countryside.
The significance of this unfortunate
circumstance is tremendous.
A visit to any lumberyard will tell
you that the most commonly used
timber these days is pine. It is soft, easy
to work with, and grows quickly, tall
and straight. It also pales in comparison
to chestnut. The American chestnut
tree, Castanea Dentata, was a logger’s
dream. It reproduced abundantly
by seeds and sprouts, was extremely
resistant to rot and insects, and grew
straight and tall. It was common for
them to grow branch-free for fifty feet,
reaching heights of 100 feet or more.
Although it took the average chestnut
40
years or more to begin bearing fruit,
they could live to be 500 years old.
A distant cousin of the oak, the
American chestnut is considered a
hardwood, although it embodies many
of the qualities of softwoods. It is
straight-grained, grows quickly, and is
much easier to work (softer) than oak.
It was of enormous value to rural folk
in this region, as its high tannin content
made it extremely resistant to rot and
insects. For three centuries, most barns
and homes east of the Mississippi were
made of chestnut logs. In fact, there
are split rail fences and tobacco barns
still standing today that originated as
much as a century ago out of American
chestnut logs.
The high tannin content was
also valued by the American leather
industry. In fact, more than half of the
tannin used at the turn of the 20th
century for leather tanning purposes
came from the American chestnut.
Some of the major timber operations in
these parts were actually subsidiaries of
leather companies.
Furthermore,
the
American
chestnut was a popular fixture on
homesteads and in town
squares, valued for its broad
canopy that provided lots of
shade. So, what happened
to the proverbial spreading
chestnut tree, ‘neath which
the village smithy stood?
A terrible blight was
introduced
into
this
country, either through
imported lumber or directly
from Asian chestnut trees
that were brought here as
nursery stock. Herman W.
Merkel, a forester working
at the Bronx Zoo in New
York discovered it around 1904, in the
New York Zoological Garden. The
Asian trees were highly resistant to the
blight, caused by a fungus that attacks
through the bark, creating a canker that
girds the trunk, swelling and causing
open wounds that allow it to spread
internally. All parts of the tree above
the canker eventually die.
Unfortunately,
the
American
chestnut had no resistance at all to this
fungus, and within 40 years, virtually
the entire North American population,
an estimated 3 to 4 billion trees,
had been wiped out. This represents
approximately 25 percent of the
hardwoods in our forests, and nearly
Discover Smith Mountain Lake |
www.discoversmithmountainlake.com
Discover Smith Mountain Lake | Winter 2012
35
34