Hi Chara, Thank you for your kind words, and for taking the time to write them. I am glad you enjoyed the article! Stephanie

Thank you, Jonathan – I will definitely be checking these out! And I will scan my old photos of that entrance to see if any show the chestnut that was cut.

Hi, Stephanie,
— I am pretty sure that the chestnut cut down was almost completely dead. there were large bark sheds and some major limbs of the tree were dead. still, some part of it might have been barely alive cause the cut wood was moist still.
the stump is still there. As one climbs over the chain at the entry, it is the first stump over on the left, maybe 15 inches in diameter, twenty feet or so into the park, cut at an angle, not parallel to the ground.

From the shape of the smaller branches and bark, I believe there are a couple other trees in that area of the park that might be chestnut
– Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

Thank you for pointing out the chestnut saplings by the Kirk Lane entrance – I will definitely check those out when the leaves have emerged, and I will submit them to the American Chestnut Foundation database! I am sad to hear that one of the cut trees may have been a chestnut – do you know whether it was alive or dead at the time? Would you be able to identify which trunk it is now? I am interested to hear that you have American Chestnut saplings in your yard, too! This is excellent incentive to do further searches for chestnuts in the park.

Thank you,

Stephanie Gaboriault

I often walk over the 3rd street dam and have noticed several saplings of ca 15 ft height at the top of the hill (on the Upper Providence side) just off the road which appeared to me to be American Chestnut, but badly affected by the blight. one recently expired and was then knocked over in late fall 2014. A rather large Chestnut was felled in the park near the Kirk lane entrance in 2013 – the freshly sawn wood gave off that characteristic fragrance which some have likened to vomit.

The Chestnut is a very interesting tree. That sprouts have continued to come up vigorously from the underground stump network more than a century after the blight first hit is quite interesting. In my yard on Azalea Lane, when a 15 ft. sapling expired from blight last year, perhaps two dozen sprouts appeared.

Thank you, Rich! We have had preliminary discussions with the American Chestnut Foundation about planting “restoration” American Chestnut hybrids in the park, but there are no specific plans yet. Thank you for reminding me- it could work for our 2014 planting location!

Hi Carolyn,

You are quite welcome- it is a wonderful map! I love the drawings on it, and it was very useful in my historical research of the park. That is exciting that it is the earliest so far.

Stephanie

Stephanie:

So Sorry not to have checked back sooner, but I really appreciate your taking the time to do this. I worked for non-profits for thirty years, so I know you likely had a lot on your plate and that this wasn’t exactly your top priority. So far, this is the earliest known map produced by my ancestors!

Thank you again.

Carolyn