Trees of Virginia

In March, Seth came to Virginia for a visit and allowed me to take him everywhere except Washington DC.  Neither of us are fans of crowds and we know we have plenty of time to do the tourist stuff when other people are around.  With just the two of us hanging out, we saw no reason why we shouldn't go exploring west of the DC area.  We, unfortunately, picked one of the worst days in March to go to Shenandoah National Park (about a two hour drive from where I live).  Considering how foggy it was, these photos can hardly do the park justice, but it will give you a rough idea of how amazing it is up there.  It also spurred Seth's curiosity and he has contributed his findings about the trees we saw (and those we did not) for today's post. - Jess



The Trees in Shenandoah National Park by Seth Abbott

The sight of the beautiful forested hillsides in the park at first brings to mind Longfellow’s introductory lines in the poem Evangeline:

“This is the forest primeval,

The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,

Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic”

View from Dickey Ridge Outlook in Shenandoah National Park

 However, as the national park guide explains, today’s view of the forests is not the same as that which Americans had viewed for centuries, for the 20th century saw the extinction of the majestic American chestnut and near extinction of the Eastern hemlock, two of the previously dominant trees in the Alleghenies and Blue Ridge mountains of Shenandoah National Park.

About 1904, the pathogenic sac fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, the cause of “chestnut blight, was accidentally introduced into the eastern United States through imported Asian chestnut lumber or trees. This caused a mass extinction of the majestic American chestnut tree, which grew between 50-200 feet in height with trunks up to 14 feet around and were the main lumber used to construct American houses east of the Mississippi for three centuries. Whereas the European and the Asian chestnut tree had some resistance to the chestnut blight, the larger American chestnut tree had none. By 1940, the American chestnut tree had been virtually wiped out and the chestnut blight had deforested almost a quarter of Shenandoah National Park.

Another large tree, the Eastern hemlock, had also been widespread in the southern Appalachians up until the 20th century. Timber harvesting had greatly reduced its numbers throughout the century, and in 1988, an Asian insect (the wooly agelid) arrived to nearly wipe out the Eastern hemlock population.

The Massanutten!  This is as far as we got before the fog banks made us turn back.

With few hemlocks and chestnut trees present today, the view of the park forests is now dominated by red oak, maple, birch, and ash. As seen in the photos, the mountains are beautifully forested, but one is left with a lingering sadness at the loss of what had been the most majestic of the Appalachian trees. Today, we do not see the forest primeval at the park.

View from Signal Knob Outlook in Shenandoah National Park

Heading back down and away from the fog.

For further information on Shenandoah National Park, the trees of the region and the Appalachian Trail (Virginia has more miles of the trail in it than any other state it goes through), we recommend the following books (all available in our store or by clicking on the picture below):

Once you're done being saddened by the loss of trees and you are worn out from hiking, go get yourself an amazing burger and fries at Spelunker's in Front Royal.  Greasy awesomeness.  The name Spelunker's comes from the nearby Luray Caverns and Skyline Caverns where you can go, that's right, spelunking.  Check out the Fried Eggs at Luray Caverns.