Beginning in 1915, the Babcock Lumber Company of Pittsburgh operated a standard gauge railroad in the area,[1] logging out roughly two-thirds of the Slickrock Creek watershed before construction of Calderwood Dam threatened to flood the lower part of the railroad.

[3] In 1934 the Bozeman Bulger Post (New York) of the Veterans of Foreign Wars petitioned "that the government of the United States examine its millions of forested acres and set aside a fitting area of trees to stand for all time as a living memorial" to Kilmer, a poet and journalist killed during World War I, whose 1913 poem "Trees" had become a popular favorite.

[4] The memorial is a rare example of old growth cove hardwood forest, a diverse type unique to the Appalachian Mountains.

Although the last of the Kilmer chestnuts had probably died by the late 1930s, their wood is so rot-resistant that remnants of the massive logs and stumps are still visible.

In November 2010, the Forest Service blew up the trees with explosives, making the lower loop trail much lighter and drier, thereby changing the environment and creating a public relations challenge.