The American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a large, deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. A rapidly growing deciduous hardwood tree, it reached up to 30–45 meters (100–150 ft) tall and 3 meters (10 ft) in diameter, and ranged from Maine and southern Ontario to Mississippi, and from the Atlantic coast to the Appalachian Mountains and the Ohio Valley.

Before the species was devastated by the chestnut blight, a fungal disease, it was one of the most important forest trees throughout its range. The pathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica (formerly Endothia parasitica) is a member of the ascomycota (sac fungus) category, and is the main cause of chestnut blight, a devastating disease of the American chestnut tree that caused a mass extinction in the early 1900s of this once plentiful tree from its historic range in the eastern United States. There are now very few mature specimens of the tree within its historical range, although many small sprouts of the former live trees remain. However, there are (at least) hundreds of large (2 to 5 ft diameter) trees outside its historical range, in areas where less virulent (hypovirulent) strains of the pathogen are more common, such as the 600 to 800 large trees in northern lower Michigan.

In some places such as the Appalachian Mountains, it is estimated that one in every four hardwoods was an American chestnut. Mature trees often grew straight and branch-free for 50 feet (sometimes up to one hundred feet), and could grow up to 200 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 14 feet at a few feet above ground level. For three centuries most barns and homes east of the Mississippi were made from American chestnut.[6] The chestnut blight caused by C. parasitica has destroyed about 4 billion American chestnut trees,[2] and dramatically reduced the tree population throughout the East Coast.

Reclaimed lumber is wood taken for re-use. Most reclaimed lumber comes from timbers and decking rescued from old barns, factories and warehouses although some companies use wood from less traditional structures such as boxcars, coal mines and wine barrels. Reclaimed or antique lumber is used primarily for decoration and home building and is often used for siding, architectural details, cabinetry, furniture and flooring.

Another previously common wood for building was the American Chestnut. Beginning in 1904, a chestnut blight spread across the US killing billions of American Chestnuts. Before the wood was destroyed, it was used to build barns and other structures, which preserved the wood for later reuse when these structures were later dismantled.

Barns serve as one of the most common sources for reclaimed wood in the United States. Barns constructed up through the early part of the 19th century were typically built using whatever trees were right there on the property. They often contain a mixed blend of oak, chestnut and other woods including poplar, hickory and pine.