Abstract: The purpose of this study is to understand how the importance of Quercus rubra (Red Oak) and of Quercus alba (White Oak) in a previous chestnut-oak forest in the Southern Appalachians have changed in the past 24 years and to gain a better understanding of why these changes have occurred. A spatial analysis of growth and mortality patterns of Q. alba and Q. rubra was done using spatially explicit historical data from the early 1980s and current data from 2007 and 2008 of individually mapped trees on two plots on Salt Pond Mountain in southwest Virginia . Since the 1980s there has been a huge increase in the number of shade tolerant trees such as Acer pensylvanicum (Striped Maple) and a decrease in number of both Q. rubra and Q. alba . A correlation analysis of A. pensylvanicum abundance, Quercus seedlings and herb layer trees, and light availability shows that abundance of A. pensylvanicum has a negative effect on seedling survival. Both Q. rubra and Q. alba have experienced stand thinning, and the previous oak-chestnut forest has transformed to an oak-maple forest and will continue to become increasingly dominated by maples.