“There has been a legend passed down the century about a grand tree in Appalachia, where the canopy was so dense that it was said a squirrel could make its way from Georgia to Maine without ever touching the ground... The American Chestnut dominated the Appalachian Forests, boasting heights of over 100 feet and accounting for 1 in every 4 forest trees... Until a deadly blight discovered in 1904 in New York State put an abrupt end to this story, destroying nearly every American Chestnut in site.