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Originally Posted by The Reaper
I'm waiting for someone to say they remember the chestnut as well.
TR
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What a tree, the Western Carolina forests were dominated by Chestnuts, Oak and Hickory trees who's canopy prevented the undergrowth from becoming so dense, a much different ecosystem than exists today. We saw them trying to make a come back but they are the first to die back from any drought. That wood was and is very water and moisture resistant, so you still see some of the last stumps in the woods. If you ever get to the Farm Museum just outside Cherokee, NC in the Smokey Mountain National Park you will see one of the finest examples of a chestnut cabin I can think of, reversed logs hand hewn and squared:
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/mfm.htm
http://www.romanticasheville.com/oconaluftee.htm There are many more because of that woods water resistance and the wormy chestnut wood is a delightful interior treatment still highly sought after!
It's the Hemlocks that are currently on the way out now back in Western NC which caught the Woolly Adelgids from nursery stock that came down from New York* . Which is a shame, they can be majestic trees and the old woodsmen used their bark for a very warming and enduring heat in camp fires and fireplace
http://www.romanticasheville.com/hemlocks.htm. Give that a try if able, a good way to harvest the bark is with a longer branch fashioned like a big chisel, you will truly be surprised by the heat, glow, and enduring warmth!! see Horace Kephart's " Camping and Woodcraft" for an excellent resource on wood, it's qualities and uses...
On the bright side I do not see the beetle killed pines here in Colorado like there used to be. Thanks for the thoughts about the forests I miss!
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