American Chestnut Planting in Virginia with Historical Significance

Published November 18, 2019

Teacher, Daisy Banco, helps Jack Lamonica dig the hole in which to plant the American chestnut sapling.

On a cool and rainy fall day in mid-October, members of the Lyon Park Community in Arlington County planted a pair of American chestnuts, donated by the VA-TACF Chapter. These 6th generation hybrids represent a select few American chestnuts to be planted in the Washington, D.C. area and they joined the Lyon Park Community as part of its centenary celebrations. One hundred years after Lyon Park was founded, and about 100 years after a blight decimated American chestnuts in the local hillsides, the trees have returned to Lyon Park’s forest.

The planting involved careful identification of sites that would suit chestnuts by the park arborist and preparation of the soil by O.D. Dalton from Landed LLC. More specifically, the seedlings have been settling on either side of a buried spring run in a quiet corner of the community-owned Lyon Park. When established in 1919, the Lyon Park Community was an early stop on the Washington Boulevard Streetcar Line out of the District of Colombia. It was known as a respite from Washington’s summer heat, filled with summer cottages, craftsman-style bungalows, and Sears & Roebuck Kit Houses. It remains a welcoming and diverse community and is now a stop for two Washington Area Metro lines. As one of the older planned neighborhoods in Arlington, Lyon Park is adjacent to Ft. Myers and Arlington National Cemetery, close to the Pentagon and Amazon’s new headquarters.

Lyon Park residents were very excited to welcome the new chestnut trees. They also learned a lot about this remarkable species from VA-TACF Chapter member, Jack Lamonica, who provided an intriguing educational presentation just before the planting. In the years ahead, everyone looks forward to having healthy spreading American chestnuts shading the park and participating in the tree’s return to our nation’s Capitol.

Sara Fitzsimmons in 2005 with Jim Gage, Dr Phil Arnold, Dr Robert Gregg

2005
Sara Fern Fitzsimmons with Jim Gage, Dr Phil Arnold, & Dr Robert Gregg

2006, Sara Fitzsimmons pollinates at Stockers

2006
Sara pollinating at Stockers, PA

Sara rating cankers at Thorpewood

Sara rating cankers at Thorpewood, MD

Sara at the 25th Annual TACF meeting

2008
Sara at the 25th Annual TACF Meeting

Sara and the Graves tree

2009
Sara in the PSU Graves Orchard

Sara Fern Fitzsimmons in the Glenn Swank stump, 2009

2009
Sara in the Glenn Swank stump, PA

Sara at the International Chestnut Symposium, 2012

2012
Sara at the International Chestnut Symposium

Sara in Vermont

2014
Sara with Harmony Dalgleish and the Berlin American chestnut in Vermont

Kendra and Sara in the field

Sara and Kendra Collins working in the field

Sara presenting at the 2022 TACF Spring Meeting

2022
Sara presenting at TACF’s Spring Meeting

Sara (in the rocker) with TACF staff at the Fall Meeting

2023
Sara (in the rocker) with TACF staff at the Fall Meeting

Sara Fern Fitzsimmons

2024
Sara in the Penn State greenhouses