I went into an old mill up in Massachusetts that was being torn down. Delivering something on a flatbed and went looking around. The basement supported the first floor with square 12 x 12 posts every 5 or six feet under the square cross beams and the building was football field size so a lot of post. Guy running the crew said they were salvaging all the old whitewashed beams. Seemed a little odd till I took a jack knife to one. Chestnut. All old growth chestnut. Guy said they would ship them to Japan for wood carving or something. At the time in the 90s the man said they would bring $3,000,000 or so. That didn't include the antique brick, oak flooring etc. Building was a goldmine the town sold him for $1 to get taken out of there.Nice story! A friend bought a house in the country and planned to tear it down. When they did, they found it had been built around a log cabin built around 1817. I tried to salvage some logs, thinking they might be Chestnut, but were White Oak. I was able to make a couple mantles but that was it - too far rotted.