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Reclaimed Chestnut is the rarest of all our reclaimed woods. The only way to attain very wide widths of mature wood is through Reclaimed Chestnut. The American Chestnut tree could grow to ten feet in diameter and 100 feet tall and could live to be 600 years old. It provided food, shelter, beauty and income for many people in the Appalachians.  

Chestnut comprised 25% of the hardwood trees that covered nine million acres in the eastern forests of the US. The chestnuts could be eaten, fed to livestock and train loads of them were sent to big cities where street vendors sold them freshly roasted.  When in bloom, they gave the Appalachian Mountains the look of being covered in snow across the top of the ridges. 

In 1904, a fungus was imported to the U.S. on Asian Chestnut trees. The fungus dispersed spores that found their way into a fresh injury in the American Chestnut tree's bark. It spread, killing tissue as it advanced until the flow of nutrients was completely choked off, therefore killing the tree. By 1950, an estimated 4 billion American chestnut trees were destroyed. The fungus still exists, and prevents modern chestnut trees from growing larger than 6” in diameter.

Reclaimed Chestnut beams offer a beautiful honey color and are found in either original sawn face or hand hewn. Reclaimed Chestnut flooring combines the graining and character of Antique Heart Pine with the rich brown colors of Reclaimed Oak. 

 

 

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