Saving the Grandfather of All Trees: The Mighty Chestnut

Steve Frangos

On the first night I spent in Vlahopoulo, my paternal grandfather's village in the Peloponnese, I was taken to the house in which he had been born. My cousins apologized, as they showed me the exterior of the small stone building. That was one of the seven remaining stone houses first established during the War of 1821, and no one lived in it anymore. It was only used for storage. That same night one of my father's first cousins explained all those first stone houses had thick walls made from native stone with the front door facing south and three chestnut trees planted immediately in back.

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June 15, 2012