http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_chestnut

See what it tells you as to solid identification methods.

good luck!

but that's exciting! Good luck! Had chestnut in front hall, pocket doors, and stairway, in old house we bought, and it was spectacular.

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/forestryextension/

http://www.acf.org/find_a_tree.php

Including info on where to send samples from your tree depending on where you live, and how and when to gather the samples.

The people doing the replanting would love to see them.

So would I. I run across small trees growing from old stumps and it saddens me to think of what once was, being that 30% of the forests here were once Chestnuts.

The leaves are dark green, with deeply dentated margins and on each tip is a small point.

From the information and links you provided I think I can pretty well state that the old chestnuts on the property are Chinese, not American. But to be sure I'm going to ask my sis to go out there and collect a few samples for analysis.

I'm basing my wholly unscientific conclusion from my memory of the size of the chestnuts and the bur. Needless to say I would be quite disappointed to find the trees are not the old American Chestnut but I thought it was worth a shot, considering their age and where they came from.