In her Rowlesburg, W. Va., garden in the fall, Bertha John Nassif would be seen rhythmically standing and bending, standing and bending. Some townspeople thought she was praying, but they were only close. She was picking up chestnuts.

Chestnut trees grew all around her property and a few other places in Rowlesburg, a tiny town on the Cheat River about 40 miles southeast of Morgantown. This was starting in the 1940s and '50s, after a blight had decimated the American chestnut trees that once covered most of the East. The species was a most important source of wood and food, for wildlife as well as people.

A former bank president had given Bertha's husband, Joseph, six Asian chestnut saplings, and the renowned gardener began raising the trees and giving them to his neighbors as part of the early, continuing effort to bring back the American chestnut.

The chestnut has remained a big part of the fabric of that family and the town, both of which are celebrating it with the second annual Chestnut Festival.

The event runs from noon to 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Rowlesburg, about 115 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Ellie Nesser, one of Joseph Nassif's granddaughters who is helping to organize it, describes the town of about 300 as "a throwback to the 1950s" -- rotary phones and a few open stores and churches -- that's trying to come back, too.

Miss Nesser, executive director of Southpointe Center at California University of Pennsylvania in Canonsburg, has put together the program booklet for the festival, working with one of her Rowlesburg uncles. She vividly remembers how her grandfather Joseph used to pack chestnuts in a brown paper bag and wrap it with string with her mom's name written on it.

"We grew up on the delicacies of roasted chestnuts and chestnut stuffing," which her mom made for Thanksgiving every year until she died, she recalls.

The festival's theme is: "Honoring the Great American Chestnut Tree: Exploring Our Roots."

Activities include everything from a "throwing chestnuts in the well" contest for children to talks and displays on planting chestnut saplings, which will be for sale there, along with furniture and other items crafted from the wood. The American Chestnut Foundation (acf.org) continues to work with other groups to crossbreed the American chestnut with Asian varieties that are resistant to the fungus, which still keeps surviving American chestnuts from reaching their former grandeur.

The fest also will celebrate the chestnut's culinary charms, by roasting them on the grill most of the day at Rowlesburg Park. Attendees also will be able to make a donation for bags of chestnuts -- from the Empire Chestnut Co. of Carollton, Ohio (empirechestnut.com) -- and even buy chestnuts in honey from The Bee Box in Aurora.

The cafe at the former high school-turned-Szilagyi Creative Arts Center will be serving Cake with Chestnut Rum Creme and Chocolate Chestnut Mousse.

And at the gala banquet that night, the menu will feature savory chestnut recipes from Monroe's restaurant in Kingwood, including spinach salad with roasted chestnuts, chicken breast with chestnut stuffing and gravy over roasted potatoes, and tangy red cabbage and chestnut garnish.

The banquet's opening song, performed by the Preston High Madrigal Singers, will be "O Chestnut Tree." Visitors also can tour attractions including a World War II museum, a railroad bridges exhibit, and Cannon Hill, a Civil War battle site.

You can even view Bertha Nassif's garden, now called Our Lady of The Cheat Park, where chestnuts are all over the ground (volunteers try to pick them up before the deer do).

As the program book notes, the nuts themselves are healthy -- low in oil, high in protein, complex carbs and fiber.

"We loved them raw," says Miss Nesser, who was reminded by some of her 10 siblings how they used to sit outside behind her grandparents' now closed bar, Joe's Place. It's still a gathering point for the family and this young festival.

She salutes the adrenaline and drive of her older relatives who are keeping the memories alive as part of the Rowlesburg Revitalization Committee, which the festival benefits (the group just won a Spirit of West Virginia Award). For more, visit wvchestnutfestival.com; for banquet tickets, which are $20, call Shirley Hartley at 1-304-329-1240 or e-mail shartley812@verizon.net.

Joseph Nassif's Savory Chestnut Stuffing

As remembered by his daughter Martha Nassif Nesser and son N. Joseph Nassif.

• 3/4 cup peeled chestnuts
• 3/4 cup diced celery
• 3/4 cup diced onions
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• 1/2 teaspoon basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 loaf of white bread torn into pieces
• Turkey

Saute chestnuts, celery and onions in butter until glazed.

Add sage, basil and cinnamon. Add chicken broth and simmer for 5 minutes.

Pour mixture over bread and mix together until all ingredients are blended together.

Stuff turkey and roast until internal temperature reaches levels for food safety. Or bake stuffing mixture in casserole at 350 degrees until knife inserted in center comes out clean, approximately 35 minutes.

-- Ellie Nesser

Joseph Nassif's Roasted Chestnuts

Score an X in the flat side of each chestnut with a sharp paring knife.

Toss chestnuts on a baking sheet and roast for 15 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees. Peel while hot.

-- Ellie Nesser

First Published: October 8, 2009, 8:00 a.m.