Rediscovering America’s long lost chestnut tree

Attendees listen as Ellery “Woods” Sinclair describe the history and importance of the American Chestnut at the American Chestnut Orchard in Falls Village on Sunday, Sept. 14.
L. Tomaino

Attendees listen as Ellery “Woods” Sinclair describe the history and importance of the American Chestnut at the American Chestnut Orchard in Falls Village on Sunday, Sept. 14.
FALLS VILLAGE — On Sunday, Sept. 14, a small crowd gathered at the American Chestnut Orchard at the foot of The Great Mountain Forest on Undermountain Road in Falls Village to hear Ellery “Woods” Sinclair talk about the American chestnut tree – the restoration of which he has championed for many years. The orchard was planted for that purpose.
Sinclair, a former English teacher, is manager of the orchard, planted in 2006 by students of the Ag-Ed Department of Housatonic Valley Regional High School and its teacher Mark Burdick. They planted 25 trees in each row, for a total of 80 trees across the two-acre lot. Students have returned ever since to help maintain it.
It had been, Sinclair said, “the single most abundant tree” in America, with one out of five trees being an American chestnut and “an important food for wildlife, from bees getting, to caterpillars eating its leaves, to deer and bear eating the chestnuts.”
Sinclair said that the American chestnut is an “iconic tree.”
“Many of the houses around here were built from white oak or chestnut. But chestnut is impervious to rot.” It was used for furniture, house framing, shingles, firewood, and coffins, and it provided the wood preservative, tannin.
In 1904, an Asian fungus, cryphonestria parasitica, was accidentally introduced into the United States. “By 1911, thirty percent of the American chestnuts in the United States were hopelessly infected,” Sinclair said. “By 1950, four billion, over nine million acres were destroyed by the blight.”
Sinclair said, Dr Leila Pinchot, restoration ecologist from the US Forest Service, who’s specialty is reintroducing American chestnut trees, was instrumental in helping to start the orchard.
Sinclair explained, “The trees in the orchard are hybrids. Fifteen-sixteenths American chestnut and one-sixteenth Chinese chestnut.” The Chinese chestnut is resistant to the fungus causing the blight.
Jack Swatt, President of the Connecticut chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, stated that they now feel that the amount of Chinese Chestnut should be higher because all of the trees in the orchard have been infected by the blight to some degree.
He added that the solution to getting blight-resistant trees will probably be a mixture of techniques including adding genes from trees like willows which are resistant to the fungus and which trigger attacks on the fungus and kill it.”
Before introducing any genetic engineering into the environment, Swatt said, “It must be approved by many agencies and deregulated. It must be proven not to be a danger to the environment.”
Swatt feels it is well worth pursuing genetic engineering in order to “restore the environment” that the American chestnut had a large part in sustaining, being a keystone species.
Sinclair said, “A greatest pleasure has been rediscovery and regeneration of interest in and appreciation by family and students for the American chestnut.”
The HVRHS boys rejoice around Jackson McAvoy after he scored the game-winning goal against Shepaug with just two minutes left to play.
WASHINGTON — Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s boys varsity soccer team advanced to the Berkshire League tournament final after a 1-0 win over Shepaug Valley High School in the semifinal game on Friday, Oct. 24.
Jackson McAvoy scored the game-winning goal with just two minutes remaining.
The victory marked HVRHS boys soccer’s first victory over Shepaug since 2020.
“Finally,” said HVRHS Coach Adolfo Portillo after the game.
HVRHS will play top-ranked Nonnewaug High School in the BL final. Nonnewaug advanced to the title game by beating Northwestern Regional High School in penalty kicks (4-3) after a 1-1 draw in regulation time.
The championship game will be played at Nonnewaug beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28.

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Students dressed in neon lined the soccer field for senior night under the lights on Thursday, Oct. 16. The game against Lakeview was the last in a series of competitions Thursday night in celebration of Homecoming 2025.
As homecoming week reaches its end and fall sports finish out the season, an air of school spirit and student participation seems to be on the rise across Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
But what can be attributed to this sudden peak of student interest? That’s largely due to SGA. Also known as the Student Government Association, SGA has dedicated itself to creating events to bring the entire student body together. This year, they decided to change some traditions.
Spirit week from Oct. 14-17 was unlike those of the previous years. From wearing Housatonic merch to Boomer vs Baby day, this year’s spirit week held a little friendly competition to see which grade could participate the most.
“I think that students are bored of the same old activities and events, so it’s good to switch things up even slightly to incentivize interest within students,” said SGA president and senior Mollie Ford. “Plus the point system is super beneficial because it gives students a reason to participate.”
The school spirit sentiment can be seen outside of just the school. Senior Simon Markow is known for his photography throughout the community, and has dedicated time to help Housy sports teams’ social media posts.
“Since I’ve started photography, I think school attendance [at sports games] has gone up,” Markow said. “I feel this year, students will be more aware of games and are more likely to be at the games.”
Whether it’s a pink-out volleyball game or an under the lights soccer match, it’s likely you’ll see some familiar faces.
Social media has played a large role in this over the years. Almost every student organization at Housatonic has an Instagram account, and it’s helped reach students more efficiently than a poster or email would.
“The increase of social media use, with the help from me but as well as the teams themselves has definitely increased student interest,” Markow said. “With Housy teams posting more about their upcoming games, and my help showing the cool goals, spikes, or touchdowns, it’s enlightened students to watch the games themselves.”
In a small school, promoting pride has proven to be a challenge. But this year’s senior class has made some adjustments in the hopes to change that.
“The SGA community has spent the last few years really focusing on student participation, because we think it’s the students who contribute to a better climate,” Ford said. While Housatonic’s student body may be small in size, it seems they certainly aren’t small in spirit.