Forest history of James Madison's Montpelier Plantation1

Abstract

are used to generate two separate, canopy-disturbance chronologies dating to the early 1700s. Additionally, ages of Q. alba and other tree species provide estimates of decadal establishment in both forests. Comparing these dendrochronological reconstructions of forest history with an analysis of letters and descriptive information from the Madison family and more recent landowners clarifies both the timing and relative magnitude of disturbance and establishment events set forth by the documentary reconstructions. Furthermore, this comparison also reveals that disturbance and establishment events in these two forests frequently coincide with changes in land use and ownership with notable canopy disturbances occurring in 1749, 1880s, 1920s, and 1987 and an establishment episode in the mid-1800s. These events have most likely increased the dominance of L. tulipifera; however, both forests still retain trees that pre-date Madison-family settlement.