Over a century ago, an estimated 3–4 billion chestnut trees covered eastern North America. When a chestnut blight was introduced into the United States in 1904, the fungus killed nearly all mature American chestnuts — an event that has been called the greatest ecological disaster of the 20th century. With a donation from George and Betty Gibbs, a grove of native and hybrid chestnuts was planted near the William F. Miles Trailhead in Beckley Creek Park in the hope of nurturing blight-resistant trees.