Native Chestnut Trees Returning

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Native Chestnut Trees Returning

SHIPMAN—Nostalgic Virginians are harvesting memories as iconic chestnut trees make a comeback from near extinction.

Chestnut trees once blanketed American forests from New England to Mississippi, and their edible nuts provided food for Native Americans, pioneers and wildlife. Early in the 20th century, a blight destroyed millions of trees.

Now, several disease-resistant chestnut hybrids are being raised across the country.

Multiple varieties of tree nuts were cultivated on 301 acres in the Old Dominion in 2022, according to the latest Census of Agriculture. The largest share of that harvest was chestnuts, produced on 133 acres.

This fall, multiple orchards across the state welcomed customers to pick their own chestnuts through late October.

After more than a decade of successful online and farmers market sales, Kim and David Bryant knew that fresh, local chestnuts were in high demand. They own and operate Virginia Chestnuts LLC in Nelson County, where their first trees were planted in 2009. Fifteen years later, they’re shipping chestnuts nationwide and inviting visitors to pick their own.

“We didn’t know if anybody would drive to where we are,” Kim said. “And now more than half of our customers are coming from the Northern Virginia area, from Richmond. We had two different families come from Raleigh, North Carolina, to pick chestnuts.”

Although it’s too late to pick chestnuts this year at the Bryants’ farm, you can order online and have them shipped in time for the holidays.

In nearby Rockingham County, Daniel Jefferson and his family have been raising chestnuts since 2014. Like the Bryants, the Jeffersons began offering a pick-your-own option in 2022 as an experiment at East Rockingham Chestnuts.

“We didn’t know if people were going to come and pick chestnuts,” Jefferson said. “The first year we got a pretty good response. And then last year, even though we didn’t get as many chestnuts, we got an overwhelming response for pick-your-own.”

This year’s crop has been bountiful, he added. So bountiful that they are now sold out of chestnuts for the season.

Both growers agree that pick-your-own chestnuts have been especially popular with customers from cultural backgrounds where chestnuts are a dietary staple.

“What I like about this is we have learned so much about people that have migrated to this country,” Kim said. “And they want to tell us their stories about what brought them here, then their memories of chestnuts and their home countries. And so that’s been the biggest joy for me. And it was totally not what we thought the business model was going to be—so it’s just been a wonderful surprise!”

 

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