In Search Of The American Chestnut

My friend Tatum alerted me to the fact that an extremely rare mature chestnut tree had been found somewhere in New Hampshire. I know a lot about New Hampshire because I have lived here most of my life but had no idea that we are lucky to have such rarities. I did some googling and discovered that at least four “mother,” trees had been located in parts of New Hampshire.

The American Chestnut

At one point american chestnut trees made up the majority of trees in the forests of New England. A blight introduced from Asia has largely killed them all. Mother trees are trees that have survived long enough to become mature and reproduce. A healthy mother tree is like finding a pot of gold.

Find An American Chestnut Tree in New Hampshire

Due to the rarity of American chestnut, sightings of them are reported in the media so I had a few details to begin my search. The most well reported mature chestnut is in a field somewhere near Lee. It also seemed like one of the most difficult to find. There are reports of other trees in Derry, Hudson and Milford. The only tree that appeared to be accessible was the tree in Milford. It is described as being “in a subdivision.” Milford isn’t that big and with that little information, Tatum and I set off to find that chestnut.

The Chestnut Trip

On the way we had some uniquely New Hampshire places to visit. When I say unique, I don’t mean gun toting republican hell holes but rather places of architectural or ecological note.

Stop 1
Enfield Shaker Museum and The LaSallete Shrine
chestnu1
Tatum sees Jesus.
Stop 2
Philbrooke-Cricenti Bog
chestnut2
There are some seriously rad things growing in this bog. The most astounding things that grow here are bright red.
Stop 3
Downtown Milford
We were not able to locate the exact chestnut in Milford but we did enjoy meeting some nice people in the library and mexican restaurant. I also recommend the restaurant’s salsa, cooling yet spicy. yum.
Stop 4
Sheiling State Forest & Baby American Chestnut Trees
The Sheiling State Forest was given to the state by a woman so waspy, her last name barely contains enough phonemes to create morphemes.
These are hybrid chestnut trees that are the product of two blight resistant American Chestnut trees.
chestnut4

The Peterborough Diner
The only way that this exact moment could ever be better is if I were eating a Peterburger. Yup! I want one so bad.

Published:
November 3, 2010 – 10:07 pm
Author:
By bessa
Categories:
Comments:
None

Why You Should Take Amtrak

ladyshannie

My good friend Lady Shannie Mae of Dumplingtonshire invited me to take Amtrak down to Brattleboro and have dim sum. Our destination was C X Silver Gallery.

How To Take Amtrak

There are no Amtrak stations with employees in Vermont so you must call Amtrak and ask for a human. It was easy and the woman on the phone was nice. You simply board the train with your reservation number and pay the conductor. If you are nice, you might even get a discount.

I arrived at the station earlier than I needed to and I was very glad that I did. Most images of the Vermonter show empty stations and few passengers but the reality is that from White River Junction, the Vermonter is a busy train and there were a lot of people waiting to board. Lady Shannie met me on the train because she was coming from a few stops north. She had saved a seat for me and I am glad she did because the train was full.

After gazing at Lady Shannie’s beauty, we headed to the cafe car and I bought coffee and something to snack on. The cafe car is ok, not Amtrak’s best but still serviceable. There were a lot of people in the car and many of them were very easy on the eyes. Lady Shannie and I returned to our seats and I gazed out the window as we travelled along the Connecticut River. The ride is smooth and feels fast but most importantly it is relaxing. I hate traveling to Brattleboro because trying there is boring but the train made it fun.

The dim sum place picked us up at the train station and off we headed to a really amazing lunch.
We super fatified on our dim sum and returned in time to catch the Vermonter on its way back north.

We Also Saw Art

The dim sum place is also an art gallery. I was there for the food but we got a nice tour of the artist studio on the premises. The highlight for me was seeing an old family photo album full of vintage photographs of China.

arttour

Published:
November 3, 2010 – 9:44 pm
Author:
By bessa
Categories:
Comments:
None