It looks like the Natural Land Institute’s (NLI) Legacy Tree Program has found another Illinois State Champion tree: a rare American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) in Freeport, IL,” said Alan Branhagen, Executive Director. “Actually, the exciting news is, there are two growing side by side! Because of the rarity of this species and its great conservation concern, we are featuring both of them as the July 2025 Trees of the Month. One is larger, and we will submit it to the Illinois Big Tree Register….[We] expect it to become the new State Champion.”
Located in the front yard of a private residence, the bigger tree is about 73 feet tall, with an average crown spread of over 41 feet and a trunk circumference of 135 inches. It was nominated by Sharon Welton, Executive Director, Stephenson County Historical Society Museum and Arboretum.
Once upon a time, American Chestnut was the most magnificent tree in Eastern North America. Eastern White Pines and Tulip trees grew taller and Sycamores perhaps larger, but these were the king of the forest in Appalachia and westward to the southern tip of Illinois. They were valued for lumber and food. Chestnuts are rich in carbohydrates and have a potato-like flavor when roasted. (Now they are easily microwaved, but be sure to score the nut’s shell, so it doesn’t explode!) The trees were premier for wildlife with midsummer blossoms that cover the tree in creamy sparklers of flowers, visited by an abundance of pollinators. The nut crop produced in the fall was a must, and it was devoured by everything from humans, to bears, and the now-extinct Passenger Pigeon. The tree was also host to many species of insects; several moths specialized on the plant.
“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire….” These chestnuts are the edible kind–not the toxic “horse” chestnuts or buckeyes.
The reign of the American Chestnut over eastern forests all changed in almost an instant, when logs of Japanese Chestnut trees, infested with a blight, were brought to New Jersey in 1902. The blight quickly spread to neighboring chestnut trees and killed all the above ground portions of the tree with its cankers. Soon the blight spread through all wild stands of the trees, and the species became functionally extinct. Stump sprouts persisted but rarely long enough to produce any viable nuts. Related oaks and beech quickly filled the void, but some of the specialist moths have not been seen since. It was an economic and ecologic catastrophe!
American Chestnuts were planted by colonists beyond their wild range and these isolated trees found protection from the blight in their isolated quarantine. Two such trees were planted in front of a home on Walnut Avenue in Freeport and persist to this day. Many of the isolated trees were singletons. The tree is not self-fertile (it cannot pollinate itself), no nuts are produced. Luckily, the two Freeport trees are able to cross-pollinate each other and produce some viable nuts. Seedlings of these trees can be found in the Taylor Arboretum at the Stephenson County Historical Society. The American Chestnut Foundation was formed to protect the tree from extinction and is breeding blight-resistant trees. Mother Nature has also recently come to the rescue with a hypovirus that is infecting the blight’s cankers and keeping them in remission.
One day, may the American Chestnut return to its place in the rich forest of Eastern North America. Survivor trees like these will play an important role in the recovery.
Branhagen said, “We are grateful to Sharon Welton from the Stephenson County Historical Society for sharing these trees with NLI. Thank you to the treess owner for understanding their important conservation value. NLI hired Tree Care Enterprises to assess the trees after recent storm damage and to complete corrective pruning, so the trees may flourish into the future.”