The Role of the Chestnut in Appalachian Life

In the 1930s and 1940s, a triple whammy of outside forces arrived in Appalachia and restructured our mountain society forever. These forces were the Great Depression, World War II, and the chestnut blight. Folklorist Charlotte Ross explains why the chestnut blight had as large an influence on Appalachia as did the Depression or perhaps even the war. By examining the social, economic, cultural, and environmental roles of this one tree from frontier days to 1940, Ross views the chestnut and the traditional society and subsistence economy which flourished around it as a paradigm for an older way of life. The chestnut blight, the Depression, and the war are examined as catalysts for a paradigm shift which led to sudden, rapid, and dramatic changes in the 1940s and 1950s.