The 1st thing is to call them by their correct name, which would be
“Wormy” Chestnut. And that’s the name you should use on a Google search for answers to most of your questions.
The actual name of the wood is
American Chestnut and neither the wood or all of the trees are extinct.
As a matter of fact, I have a small apartment, semi-attached to my house, which was originally a 2-room structure (14’ x 24’) that was moved to this property and it is all Chestnut construction. Thus it is a per se “
ne$t egg”
of Chestnut lumber.
And ps, the only difference between Chestnut and Wormy Chestnut is that the latter one will have wee tiny "holes" .... "
here, there and yonder" ... in/on the wood where the "worm" ate a hole while feeding on the wood.